U4TM  , 


i^ynins  anb  I)ymn  ffdftfafio^ 


$>• 


9  1937 


By   Hymnologus* 


While  the  subject  here  under  discussion  is 
hymnology,  yet  we  do  not  wish  to  speak  of 
liturgical  hymns,  but  only  of  hymns  in  the 
vernacular.  From  a  religious  as  well  as  from 
an  educational  standpoint,  this  is  a  more  im- 
portant topic  than  people  are  largely  inclined 
to  assume.  Unfortunately,  our  churches  and 
chapels  do  not  show  up  the  best  of  conditions 
in  this  respect.  Not  long  ago  Rev.  L.  Bonvin, 
S.J.,  felt  prompted  to  write  as  follows  in  the 
Ecclesiastical  Review:  "If  we  direct  our  at- 
tention to  the  kind  of  hymns  used  by  the 
school  children  at  Low  Mass  and  on  other 
occasions,  we  find  reason  for  grave  concern, 
especially  when  we  remember  how  important 
it  is  to  form  good  and  correct  taste  in  the  ris- 
ing generation."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is 
precisely  the  congregational  hymn,  inasmuch 
as  it  is  most  on  a  level  with  the  intelligence 
of  our  children,  that  exercises  a  special  in- 
fluence on  the  training  of  their  taste.  If  in 
this  respect  we  let  them  feed  on  the  fleshpots 
of  Egypt,  or  even  on  the  husks  of  the  prodigal, 
we  cannot  expect  them  to  acquire  a  relish  for 
the  wholesome  diet  of  true  church  music,  espe- 
cially of  Gregorian  chant.  "But,"  continues 
Fr.  Bonvin,  "do  not  very  many  choirs  of  chil- 
dren still  use  hymnals  that  are  wretched  from 
a  musical  as  well  as  an  ecclesiastical  stand- 
point, hymnals  that  offer  not  only  tasteless 
and  insipid  texts  and  musical  bunglings,  but 
even  adaptations  of  well-known  English,  Ger- 
man aud  French  secular  songs?  Even  such  de- 
cidedly secular  tunes  as  Tyrolese  and  Swiss 
Yodels,  or  such  unbecoming  music  as  abbre- 
viated arias  from  Donizetti's  Lucia  di  Lam- 
mermoor  and  Rossini's  operas  are  not  want- 
ing; all  this,  too,  in  a  form  so  corrupt, 
mutilated  and  bungled,  that  in  the  concert 
hall  or  in  the  family  circle  we  should  turn 
away  from  it  in  disgust." 


Accordingly,  not  a  few  musicians  have  of 
late  made  an  effort  to  oppose  the  evil  by  edit- 
ing new  compilations  of  hymns;  perhaps  but 
too  many  of  such  books  are  making  their  ap- 
pearance. Have  all  these  editors  really  the 
ecclesiastical  spirit,  the  ability,  the  trained 
taste,  and  the  patience  that  are  requisite  for 
the  successful  accomplishment  of  such  a  task  ? 
Have  they,  before  attempting  it,  earnestly 
taken  into  account  the  exigencies  of  a  hymnal 
that  would  be  truly  a  model  in  regard  to  the 
music  as  well  as  the  text?  Let  us  at  least  en- 
deavor to  do  this  here.  In  this  investigation 
we  can  hardly  choose  a  better  guide  than 
Guido  M.  Dreves,  whose  essay,  "Ein  Wort  zur 
Gesangbuch-Frage,"  thirty  years  ago,  con- 
tributed so  much  to  the  improvement  of  hymn 
books  in  Germany.  For  the  sake  of  brevity 
and  to  avoid  unnecessary  bother,  we  shall  oc- 
casionally make  use  of  his  thoughts  without 
expressly   mentioning  him. 

We  shall  divide  up  our  article  into  a  gen- 
eral, theoretical  section  (A),  in  which  we  shall 
examine  the  requirements  of  a  good  hymnal, 
and  a  more  particular  and  practical  section 
(B),  in  which  we  shall  let  a  number  of  Amer- 
ican hymnals  pass  in  review  before  us. 

A.     HYMNOLOGY: 

A  hymnal  is  made  up  of  hymns.  Now  what 
are  the  general  properties  of  a  hymn?  It  must 
be  first  of  all  a  lyric,  next  a  lyric  for  the  con- 
gregation, and  finally  a  lyric  for  the  church. 

I.     A  LYRIC 

It  must  be  a  lyric,  that  is  to  say,  poetry, 
good  poetry  in  language  and  conception.  "There 
should  be  nothing  slovenly  in  the  composition 
of  a  hymn,  in  grammar,  rhythm,  rhyme, 
epithets  or  metaphors.  In  this  respect."  says 
T.   E.  Bridgett,  C.SS.R.,  "We  have  not  many 


(*A  member  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.)     From  the  Catholic  Choirmaster  -  April  -  1916.  *' 


hymns  that  are  perfect.  Hymn  writers  have 
been,  too  easily  satisfied  and  the  pious  public 
too  uncritical."  And,  proceeding  at  once  to 
give  some  examples  of  such  slovenliness  and 
of  prosaic  conception  and  expression,  the  same 
author  asks:  "Why,  for  instance,  did  not  a 
sense  of  the  ludicrous  cause  the  author  of  a 
certain  hymn  to  revise  the  following  couplet? 

"Praise   Him,   fowls    and   cattle,   princes    and 

all  kings, 
Praise    Him,    men    and    maidens,    all    created 

things." 
From   mere   carelessness   and  want   of  re- 
vision  cattle   and   kings   are  here   put   in   the 
same  category. 

The   following   prosaic   lines   are  due  to   a 
poetess   who   would   have   cancelled    them   ex- 
cept from  a  hymn: 
"/  may  lose  some  advantage,  and  forfeit  some 

gain, 
I  may  meet  with  unkindness,  and  suffer  some 

pain, 
But  Jesus  and  Mary  will  surely  bestow 
Richer  gifts  than  from  sin  and  apostacy  flow." 

Here  are  poetical  (!)  strains  of  a  hymn  in 
honor  of  St.   Catherine  of  Alexandria,  issued 
by  an  American  convent: 
"The  wisest  doctors  of  Egypt  came 
To  prove  that  Catholic  faith   was  wrong; 
They    reasoned    for    howrs,    and    brought    out 

their  books, 
For  they  were  all  mighty,  in  wits  and  tongue. 
0  St.  Catherine  meek!  O  St.  Catherine  pure! 

St.  Catherine  stood  before  them  all, 
So   humble,   she   trusted  in  Heaven   alone; 
She  proved  that  the  Catholic  faith  was  right, 
Till   there  they  sat,  as  dumb  as  a  stone. 
0  St.  Catherine  meek!  O  St.  Catherine  pure! 

Now  what  did  the  king  and  his  courtiers  do, 
When  none  of  them  all  could  answer  a  word? 
They  said  she  no  longer  was  fit  to  live, 
And  cut  off  her  innocent  head  with  a  sword, 
0  St.  Catherine  meek!  O  St.  Catherine  pure!" 


What  carelessless  and  indolence  prevails 
in  regard  to  rhymes?  Fr.  Bridgett,  whom  we 
have  already  quoted,  calls  attention  to  a  hymn 
in  which  the  poet  makes  the  word  "Lamb" 
rhyme  in  four  successive  stanzas  with  same, 
name,  came  and  claim.  He  refers  likewise  to 
another  hymn,  where  in  immediate  succession, 
the  following  would-be  rhymes  occur:  Come- 
home,  seed-head,  power-restore,  join-thine. 
"Four  weak  rhymes  in  succession;  where  else," 
he  rightly  exclaims,  "but  in  a  hymn,  could  such 
a  thing  be  perpetrated?"  Indeed,  such  feeble 
half-rhymes  occur  continually,  since  recog- 
nized poets  have  set  the  example.  Has  not 
Keble  published  the  following? 

"Like   arrows   went    these    lightnings    forth, 
Winged  with  the  sinners  doom; 

But  these,  like  tongues,  o'er  all  the  earth, 
Proclaiming  life  to  come." 


Would  it  not  be  desirable  that  editors  of 
new  hymn  books  should  here  apply  a  revising 
hand,  in  order  that  the  hymns,  sung  by  our 
people  in  honor  of  God  and  of  the  Saints, 
should  also  in  their  external  garb  not  be  too 
inferior  to  other  poems  that  have  a  much  less 
lofty  purpose? 

The  texts  in  our  hymnals,  in  conjunction 
with  their  tunes,  form  a  new  unit,  and  are 
intended  to  be  sung;  they  must  therefore  be 
judged  from  the  standpoint  of  "singableness." 
Hence,  even  the  most  beautiful  and  noble  poem 
cannot  be  used  as  a  congregational  hymn,  if 
in  metrical  accents  and  caesuras,  its  single 
verses  and  stanzas  embody  differences  and 
irregularities  incompatible  with  a  given  mel- 
ody. 

1.  Accents.  The  substitution,  for  instance, 
of  a  trochpc  for  an  iambus,  or  other  metrical 
irregularities,  used  by  English  poets  to  break 
the  monotony  of  their  verses,  easily  make  a 
hymn  unfit  for  singing,  since  the  musical 
rhythm  is  strictly  determined  and  definitely 
fixed,  so  that  it  cannot  be  shifted.  In  reading 
a  poem,  many  an  irregularity  or  unevenness 


of  rhythm  can  be  slurred  over  and  concealed; 
but  in  singing  it  to  a  well-marked  and  regu- 
larly-built melody,  this  cannot  be  done.  The 
rhythm  of  the  music  and  that  of  the  text  being 
at  variance,  both  the  singer  and  the  listener 
are  painfully  distressed.  This  is  a  fundamental 
fault  and  one  that  is  found  very  frequently 
in  our  English  hymn-texts. 

By  way  of  illustration  of  what  we  have 
just  said,  let  us  more  closely  examine  a  hymn 
that  is  found  in  several  of  our  hymnals.  It  is 
a  typical  example  of  how  our  Catholic  hymns 
disregard  agreement  between  the  musical 
rhythm  and  the  verse-stress. 

Sweet  Heart  ot  Jesus 


4+ 


4, 


u 


1.  Sweet  Heart  of       Je  -  sus  !    my    God,    my 

2.  My     joy,    Thy    glo  -  ry ;    my    hope,  Thy 

3.  Let     not    Thy    pre      -     cious  blood  be  in 


4.  Help  me      to     lead 


poor    sinners  to 


P 


I 


3.  friend,  In    life  and    in dJath my  soul    de-fend; 

2.  name,  Sweet  Heart  of  Je  -  sus,-  my  heart  in  -  flame; 

•  i  *         I 

3.  vain;  Sweet  Heart  of  Je-sus,  my  will  sus -tain; 

4»Thee;  Fill .  me  with   zeal       and  char  -  i  -  ty; 


i 


ey 


m 


:* Kj l       :il 


1.  In       joy,     in    sor-row,    in  good  and  ill, 

2.  Grant    I     may  nev  -  er     de  -  sert  Thy  side ; 

3.  When    I     am  tempted    and  sore  -  ly  tried, 

4.  Teach  me  the    ho  -  ly    and  sav  -  ing  art 


5 


1.  Sweet  Heart    of    Je  -  sus,   pro  -  tect    me   still. 

2.  Swe*et  Heart    of    Je  -  sus,    be    Thou  my  guide. 

3.  Make    me       re-mem -ber  Thee   cru  -  ci-fied. 

4.  Of       teach  -  ing  oth  -  ers    to      love  Thy  Hearf. 

The  rhythm  of  the  tune  is  clearly  dactylic 
in  accentuation  (!..),  while  the  rhythm  of  the 
words  is  prevailingly  iambic  ( . ! )  with  occa- 
sional substitutions  and  initial  inversions. 
These,  however,  are  quite  irregularly  placed, 
and  vary  considerably  in  the  different  stanzas. 
This  feature  alone — for  the  reason  given  above 


— makes  the  words  unsuitable  as  a  hymn-text. 
Less  than  half  the  verses  begin,  as  they  here 
should,  with  an  accented  syllable,  correspond- 
ing to  the  accented  first  beat  of  the  measure. 
The  first  verse  of  the  third  stanza  does  not 
observe  the  musical  caesura  after  the  fifth 
note,  as  the  adjective  "precious"  must  go  with 
the  noun  it  qualifies.  The  second  verse  of  the 
fourth  stanza  ends  badly,  inasntuch  as  the 
music  emphasizes  and  disagreeably  prolongs 
the  last  syllable  of  the  word  "charity."  We 
would  also  remark  in  passing,  that  in  this 
hymn  the  address  "Sweet  Heart"  is  objection- 
able, because  the  music  here  accentuates  the 
first  of  the  two  words,  and  makes  the  appella- 
tion sound  like  "sweetheart." 

The  hymn  writer  must,  as  much  as  possible, 
avoid  putting  the  thesis  of  a  foot  on  unimpor- 
tant words  that  should  remain  unaccented, 
such  as  of,  at,  the,  etc.  In  reading,  one  can 
glide  over  them;  but  not  so  in  singing;  for  the 
music  will  not  only  emphasize  the  metrical 
accent,  but  frequently  also  dwell  upon  it  with 
a  longer  note.  An  example  of  carelessness  in 
this  point  is  again  furnished  us  by  Fr.  Faber, 
and  that,  too,  twice  in  every  stanza  of  his 
hymn,  "Faith  of  Our  Fathers,"  sung  to  a  well- 
known,  but  exceedingly  trivial  tune.  If  we 
open  the  Westminster  Hymnal  at  No.  138,  we 
find  that  in  every  case  the  word  "of"  has  a 
prolonged,  accentuated  note  which  is  empha- 
sied  all  the  more  by  the  circumstance  that  it 
is  a  higher  note  after  an  ascending  run.  Also 
in  the  first  and  sixth  stanzas  of  the  hymn, 
"Sing,  Sing,  Ye  Angel  Bands,"  the  same  poet 
places  the  article  "the"  upon  the  thesis.  The 
music  (Westminster  Hymnal,  No.  105)  strong- 
ly accentuates  the  word  each  time,  and  this 
produces  anything  but  a  pleasing  effect. 


2.  Caesuras  and  Pauses.  Where  the  music 
has  a  break,  the  text  must  also  permit  one. 
But  if  such  a  break  in  the  text  created  by  the 
music  makes  nonsense,  or  renders  the  words 
meaningless  or  ridiculous,  the  poem  in  ques- 


tion — at  least  that  passage  in  it — cannot  be 
used  with  that  melody.  To  spe,ak  in  technical 
terms,  "Run-on"  lines  are,  as  a  rule,  out  of 
place  in  a  hymn;  the  verses  should  all,  as  far 
as  possible,  be  "endstopt."  The  congrega- 
tional hymn,  as  everybody  knows,  introduces 
a  pause  after  every  musical  phrase;  and  this 
phrase  usually  corresponds  to  the  verse;  hence, 
also  the  text  should  allow  a  pause  in  the  same 
place.  A  distressing  chapter  in  our  hym- 
nology!  Here  are  a  few  examples  by  way  of 
illustration: 

Does  not  the  break  in  the  music,  and  the 
break  in  the  text,  necessitated  thereby  after 
the  first  verse,  produce  a  ludicrous  effect  in 
the  following  lines? 

"God  of  mercy!  let  us  run  || 
Where  yon  fount,  of  sorroivs  flow?;" 
and  equally  so  in  F.  W.  Faber's,  "O  Purest  of 
Creatures,"  after  the  verse. 

"Dark  night  hath  come  down  on  us,  Mother, 

and  we  |  |  ?" 
(See  the  Westminster  Hymnal,  No.  106, 
first  and  second  tunes.)  What  unnatural  and 
senseless  things  result  throughout  from  the 
union  of  the  hymn-text  with  the  first  tune 
there  assigned  to  it!  The  correct  phrasing  of 
the  music  demands  a  lesser  or  greater 
caesura  after  every  six  beats,  and  this  cuts 
up  the  text  as  follows: 
"O  purest  of  creatures,   \   sweet  Mother,  sweet 

Maid.  1 1 
The  one  spotless  womb  where  \  in  Jesus  was 

laid.  | 
Dark  night  hath  come  down  on   \  us,  Mother. 

and  we   ' ! 
Look  out  for  thy  shining,  \   sweet  star  of  the 

sea.  || 
Deep  night  hath  come  down  on   \\   this  rough- 
spoken  world;   .    .    . 
And  the  tempest-tossed  Church — all — her  eyes 

are  on  thee  .   .   . 
He  gazed  on  thy  soul,  it  |  was   spotless  and 

fair:    || 
For   the   empire   of   sin,   it  \  had  never   been 

there;"  etc. 


Some  of  these  absurdities  the  singer  can 
no  doubt  avoid,  in  one  case  by  letting  two 
notes  merge  into  one,  in  another  by  discon- 
necting two  slurred  notes  and  assigning  one 
syllable  to  each;  but  these  are  disturbing  make- 
shifts that  spoil  the  melody. 

One  is  disagreeably  impressed  by  the 
atheistic  contradiction  brought  out  by  the 
musical  caesura  in  Faber's  hymn: 

"Jesus  is   God!   there  never  was  | 
A   time  when  He  was  not." 

The  ambiguity  of  the  word  "lie"  (in  West- 
minster Hymnal,  No.  81),  produces  a  still  more 
unpleasant  effect,  on  account  of  the  strongly 
marked  musical  caesura  at  the  end  of  the  fol- 
lowing verse: 

"Thee  prostrate  I  adore,  the  Deity  that  lies  \\ 
Beneath  these  humble  veils,"  etc. 

In  the  same  poet's  hymn,  "O  Jesus,  Jesus, 
Dearest  Lord,"  the  break  in  the  music  after 
the  first  verse  robs  the  text  of  its  meaning: 

"Jesus,  my  love,  my  treasure,  who   j 
Can  tell  what  Thou  art  worth7." 

And  similarly  (Arundel  Hymns,  No.  144) 
in  Caswell's  poem: 

"/  love  Thee,  Lord,  yet  not  because  |j 

/  hope  for  Heav'n  thereby. 

Nor  yet  since  they  who  love  Thee  not 

Must  burn   eternally  "  etc. 

"Thou,  O  my  Jesus,  thou  didst  me  I 

Upon  the  Cross  embrace;"  etc. 
Such  things  must  absolutely  be  changed 
in  poems  that  are  intended  to  be  sung.  No 
so-called  reverence  or  regard  for  the  poet 
should  stand  in  the  way,  even  though  our 
hymnists  were  greater  poets  than  they 
actually  are,  and  even  if  their  hymns,  when 
merely  read,  were  veritable  masterpieces. 
Were  these  poets  still  alive,  and  were  they 
made  to  realize  the  practical  necessity,  they 
would  themselves  make  the  desired  changes, 
or  put  their  "placet"  on  changes  already  made 
by  others,  in  order  that  their  texts  might 
really  be  suitable  for  singing.  Why,  for  in- 
stance, should  one  not  make  the  above  poem 


of  Caswall  fit  to  be  sung,  by  using  this  fully 
satisfying  textual  revision? 

"7  love  Thee,  Lord,  for  no  reward, 

Not  that  I  Heav'n  may  gain, 
Nor  yet  since  they  who  love  Thee  not 

Must  bear  eternal  pain,"  etc. 
('Thou  on  the  Cross,  0  Jesus  mine, 
In  love,  didst  me  embrace,"  etc. 
Here  also,  the  rhymes  "gain,"  "pain,"  are 
true  rhymes,  not  merely  rhymes  for  the  eye, 
like  those  of  the  original:  "thereby,"  "eternal- 
ly." Also  the  irregularity  admitted  by  Caswall 
in  the  second  last  verse   (a  trochee  instead  of 
an  iambus)  is  removed  in  "Hosanna"  in  agree- 
ment with  the  musical  accent,  by  putting  the 
word  "alone"  in  place  of  "solely." 

3.  In  adopting  a  tune  of  another  nation, 
and  supplying  it  with  English  words,  one 
must,  of  course,  choose  a  text  that  harmonizes 
with  the  music,  and  that  has  the  same  metre 
and  number  of  syllables  as  the  original  poem. 
But  how  recklessly  do  our  compilers  of  hymn 
books  proceed  in  this  regard,  how  often  do 
they  sacrifiee  the  beauty  of  a  tune  to  a  new 
text  of  a  totally  different  form!  They  stretch 
the  music  on  a  Procrustean  bed;  here  they 
split  up  a  longer  note  into  two  shorter  ones, 
there  they  lop  off  a  member,  in  another  hymn 
they  remove  the  slurs  and  assign  each  note 
one  syllable  of  the  text,  or,  on  the  contrary, 
because  the  text  has  not  enough  syllables,  they 
weave  separate  notes  into  a  melismatic  braid. 
From  all  we  have  thus  far  said,  it  follows 
that  the  preparation  of  a  good  hymn  book 
demands  not  a  little  labor  and  patience;  the 
editor  must  test  each  number  verse  for  verse, 
stanza  for  stanza,  by  singing  it  to  the  re- 
spective tune.  In  consequence  of  this  test, 
much,  very  much  will  have  to  be  put  aside  or 
changed. 


IT.  A   LYRIC  FOR  THE   CONGREGATION  + 

As  Dreves  rightly  says,  a  hymn  is  intended 
not  for  single  favorites  of  the  Muse;  it  is  writ- 
ten for  the  whole  congregation.    In  a  church 


filled  with  individuals  of  every  age  and  sta- 
tion, rich  and  poor,  lettered  and  unlettered,  all, 
as  they  kneel  there,  bench  on  bench  and  shoul- 
der to  shoulder,  all  should  participate  in  mind, 
in  heart,  in  feeling.  This  circumstance  alone 
gives  us  the  necessary  corrective,  the  neces- 
sary check  that  we  must  apply  to  subjectivism 
in  a  hymn.  A  true  hymn  for  the  whole  con- 
gregation must  avoid  everything  that  one  or 
the  other  person  may  perhaps  feel  or  imagine 
to  feel,  but  what  the  rest  will  not  feel  with 
him. 

The  hymns  of  F.  W.  Faber,  that  figure 
so  prominently  in  English  hymn  books,  for 
the  most  part,  do  not  meet  the  requirements 
thus  rightly  laid  down  for  a  hymn.  Listen 
to  what  Cardinal  Wiseman  writes  about  them: 
"Father  Faber's  compositions  (texts)  are  of 
so  mixed  a  character  that  we  could  almost 
regret  his  choice  of  a  title  which  sets  them 
the  more  strikingly  in  contrast  with  the 
authorized  hymns  of  the  Church.  Many  of 
them  are  evidently  not  constructed  for  use 
in  public  worship,  they  are  the  expressions  of 
an  individual,  and  even  of  a  particular  mind, 
which  will  find  response  in  many  a  devout 
heart,  but  which  could  not  be  introduced  into 
a  mixed  congregation  without  danger  of  forc- 
ing the  feeling,  in  some  instances,  into  an 
unnatural  state.  Some  of  them  represent  sen- 
timents of  piety  and  contrition,  which  on  the 
lips  of  the  casual  worshipper  would  be  unreal; 
.  .  .  while  all  but  a  few  are  more  subjective 
in  their  character  than  we  should  fancy  suit- 
able to  public  worship,  even  as  outlets  of  in- 
formal and  auxiliary  devotion." — (Dublin 
Review,  Sept.,  1894.) 

A  hymn  for  the  people  must  carefully 
guard  against  all  excess  of  pathos  and  effemi- 
nancy  of  sentiment,  against  exaggeration  and 
affectation  in  the  emotions,  as  well  as  in  their 
utterance.  It  must,  as  T.  E.  Bridgett  remarks, 
remain  within  the  reach  of  an  ordinary  con- 
gregation, and  therefore  contain  no  far-fetched 
thoughts,    recondite    knowledge,    or    unusual 


+  Catholic  Choirmaster  -  July  -   1916- 


words;  it  must  observe  sobriety  as  regards  the 
feelings.  And  in  explanation  of  these  remarks 
the  same  writer  cites  examples  from  F.  W. 
Fab«r,  and  adds  brief  comments  which  we 
here  reproduce:  "Among  all  the  Church's 
hymns,"  he  says,  "there  is  nothing  in  the 
strain  of  Faber's: 

"O,  Jesus,  dearest  Lord, 
Forgive  me  if  I  say 
For  very  love  Thy  sacred  name 

A  thousand  times  a  day. 
/  love  Thee  so,  I  know  not  how 

My  transports  to  control: 
Thy  love  is  like  a  burning  fire 
Within  my  very  soul." 
Surely  there  must  be  unreality  in  a  whole 
congregation  singing  of  uncontrollable  trans- 
ports. 

Devotion  may  doubtless  be  expected  at 
Christmas,  yet  it  is  bold  to  ask  a  multitude 
to  sing:  "Our  hearts  are  half -broken,  dear 
Jesus,  with  the  joy  of  this  beautiful  night." 

Christian  men  and  women,  children  of  the 
Mother  of  God,  may  be  expected  to  rejoice  in 
the  great  prerogative  of  her  Immaculate  Con- 
ception; it  is,  however,  a  different  thing  to 
expect  them  to  sing  with  any  truth: 

"O  Mother,  I  could  weep  for  mirth 

Joy  fills  my  heart  so  fast, 
My  soul  today  is  heaven  on  earth, 
Oh,  could,  the  transport  last." 
It  is  incongruous  to  expect  such  transport 
to  burst  out  at  once  in  a  whole  congregation 
at   the    call   to    open   their   hymn   books   at   a 
certain    page.      Also    further    on    this    hymn 
mounts  to  a  height  of  emotion,  to  which  even 
a  saint  cannot  attain  every  day: 
"O  I  would  rather,  Mother  dear, 

Thou  shouldst  be  what  thou  art, 
Than  sit  where  thou  dost,  O  so  near 

Unto  the  Sacred  Heart. 
O  I  would  forfeit  all  for  thee 

Rather  than  thou  shouldst  miss 
On*  jewel  from  thy  majesty, 
One  glory  from  thy  bliss 
Conceived,  conceived  immaculate! 
O  what  a  joy  for  thee! 


Conceived,   conceived  immaculate! 
O  greater  joy  for  me!" 
Again,  Father  Faber,  in  his  hymn  for  Cor- 
pus    Christi     miscalculated     the     capacity     of 
others  when  he  wrote: 

"Silence,   and   let   us    weep   and  die 
Of  very   love,  while  we  adore." 
Such  words  hardly  express  the  emotions  of 
a  processional  group. 

A  good  hymn  should  avoid  puzzling  para- 
doxes and  strange  metaphors.  The  above  ex- 
clamation: "O  greater  joy  for  me!"  is  objec- 
tionable from  the  first  point  of  view;  a 
thoughtful  singer  should  not  have  his  mind 
set  puzzling  as  to  whether  it  is  correct,  or 
how  it  can  be  true.  In  Faber's  hymn  "God" 
we  find  the  following  stanza: 
"O  Majesty  most   beautiful, 

Most  Holy  Trinity! 
On  Mary's  throne  we  climb  to  get 
A  far-off  sight  of  Thee." 

As  Bridgett  here  remarks,  the  metaphor 
of  climbing  on  Our  Lady's  throne  is  almost 
comical,  and  very  different  from  that  of  climb- 
ing to  the  summit  of  a  mountain  for  distant 
prospect,  and  the  thought  introduced  is 
bizarre. 

Thus  far  we  have  considered  the  hymn 
chiefly  from  the  standpoint  of  the  text;  at 
least  equally  as  important,  however,  as  the 
text  of  the  hymn  is  its  music. 

As  the  hymn-text  in  content  and  form 
should  be  poetry,  so  also  the  music  of  a  hymn 
must  be  good  and  have  some  merit  and  be  of 
a  popular  character.  But  what  many  of  our 
hymn  books  have  to  offer  in  this  respect, 
Father  L.  Bonvin  has  told  us  at  the  begin- 
ning of  our  paper;  we  shall  come  back  upon 
this  in  the  second  part  by  way  of  practical 
examples.  For  the  present  let  us  say  only 
this  much,  that  many  hymn  books  in  their 
music  even  far  surpass  the  worthlessness, 
wretchedness,  the  maudlin  and  trivial  senti- 
mentality and  the  unchurchly  character  of  their 
texts. 


III.     A  HYMN  FOR  THE  CHURCH. 

Our  hymns  should  be  real  church  hymns, 
hence  neither  secular,  nor  merely  pious 
lyrics.  With  reference  to  this  point  Dreves 
writes  beautifully  and  truly:  "Works  of  art, 
that  are  destined  to  come  into  the  most  im- 
mediate neighborhood  of  the  sanctuary;  hymns, 
that  are  to  be  sung  during  the  Eucharistic 
Sacrifice,  must  be  not  only  thoroughly  sacred, 
but  so  worthy  and  dignified,  too,  that  they  fit 
the  dignity  and  sublimity  of  the  sacred  func- 
tion, resembling  and  harmonizing  with  what 
is  strictly  liturgical. 

"They  must  not  only  exclude  everything 
wordly  and  frivolous,  but  also  embody  unction 
and  devotion  in  no  slight  degree.  As  in  all 
the  other  arts,  so  also  in  the  art  of  poetry 
(and  of  music),  what  is  destined  for  God's 
temple  must  be  sacred,  that  is  to  say  hallowed, 
set  apart,  segregated  from  profane  use;  one 
must  at  once  notice  from  its  outward  appear- 
ance, that  it  was  made  for  the  church.  As 
we  can  readily  distinguish  a  church  building 
from  every  other  edifice  destined  for  secular 
purposes,  and  a  chalice  from  a  beaker  or 
goblet,  so  also  should  it  be  possible  to  get  the 
impression  from  a  hymn,  that  it  is  not  a 
secular  song,  and  that  it  is  something  more, 
too,  than  a  sacred  song  for  concert  or  home 
use.  Both  text  and  tune  of  a  hymn  must  abso- 
lutely show  forth  a  churchly  character,  which 
indeed  does  not  mean  that  they  should  be 
monotonous  and  dull,  but  that  they  should 
have  a  certain  earnestness  and  solemnity 
about  them,  and  should  keep  aloof  in  equal 
measure  from  boisterousness  in  joy,  from  sen- 
timentality in  love,  from  unmanliness  and  hope- 
less dejection  in  sorrow." 

Here  again  a  few  illustrations:  Unsuitable 
as  a  hymn,  because  too  familiar,  too  purely 
natural,  in  fact  almost  sensual,  are  the  fol- 
lowing lines  in  Faber's  hymn  entitled  "The 
Infant  Jesus": 

"When    Joseph    takes    Thee   in    his   arms, 
And  smoothes  Thy  little  cheek, 
Thou  lookest  up  into  his  face, 
So    helpless    and   so    meek. 


Yes,  Thou  art  what  Thou  seem'st  to  be, — 
A  thing  of  smiles  and  tears,"  etc. 
Likewise  objectionable,  on  account  of  its 
worldly  and  somewhat  showy  ballad-style,  is 
the  following  hymn  of  Faber,  that  pictures 
the  three  Magi  as  riding  into  Bethlehem, 
much  after  the  fashion  of  Goethe's  Erl-King: 
"Who    cue    these    that    ride    so    fast    o'er    the 

desert's   sandy  road, 
That  hare  tracked  the  Red  Sea  shore  and  have 

swum  the  torrents   broad? 
Whose  camels'  bells  are   tinkling   through   the 

long  and  starry  night, 
For  they  ride  like  men  pursued,  like  the  van- 
quished of  a  flight." 


Regarding  the  music,  the  same  is  so  true 
of  our  American  hymnals,  that  James  Britten 
in  The  Month,  November,  1915,  says  of  the 
British  collections  in  regard  to  their  words, 
namely,  that  save  in  few  instances  sentimental 
trash  disfigures  all  our  books.  It  is  indeed 
hard  to  make  it  clear  to  a  person  who  from 
early  childhood  has  grown  up  amid  unecclesi- 
astical,  worldly,  and  for  the  most  part  quite 
trivial  music,  what  ecclesiastical  music  is  and 
what,  on  the  contrary,  is  unecclesiastical,  un- 
suitable music;  for  in  regard  to  the  emotional 
value  and  beauty  of  music,  even  in  cases 
where  its  merits  or  demerits  are  quite  cer- 
tain, we  cannot  prove  anything  mathematically, 
least  of  all  to  people  who  have  a  vitiated 
taste  or  to  such  as  perhaps  have  never 
earnestly  reflected  on  the  mission  of  music  in 
general,  and  of  church  music  in  particular, 
people  who  consider  the  latter  as  a  thing  of 
secondary  importance,  or  even  perhaps  a  nec- 
essary evil.  Some  features  of  our  hymn  books, 
however,  are  of  such  a  nature,  that  they  will 
give  even  the  most  indifferent  and  recalcitrant 
fj ome  food  for  thought.  I  refer  here  to  the 
facts  pointed  out  by  Fr.  Bonvin  in  the  quota- 
tion at  the  beginning  of  this  article:  namely, 
the  use  of  secular  tunes,  of  Tyrolese  yodels, 
abbreviated  operatic  arias,  etc.  Even  apart 
from  the  fact  that  it  diverts  the  hearer's  im- 


£ 


agination  to  worldly  scenes  and  memories,  it 
is  impossible  for  instance  that  the  tune,  to 
which,  in  Mozart's  "Magic  Flute,"  the  swarthy 
slaves  of  Monostatos,  execute  their  dances  and 
merry  pranks,  while  Papageno  plays  for  them 
on  his  bells,  that  such  a  tune,  I  say,  should  be 
expressive  of  anything  churchly;  and  yet  both 
in  England  and  here  in  America  one  can  hear 
this  tune  sung  to  a  sacred  text  during  divine 
service.  Despite  all  tradition  and  the  reputa- 
tion of  many  well-intentioned  poets  and  mu- 
sicians such  and  similar  music  is  objectively 
out  of  place  in  church.  Nevertheless  the  use 
of  secular  tunes  has  been  defended  or  excused. 
An  instance  is  given  by  J.  Britten  in  his  article 
already  quoted:  "Father  Faber  has  written  to 
the  popular  melody  known  as  'St.  Patrick's 
Day'  his  hymn  'All  praise  to  St.  Patrick.' " 
"Criticism  of  this  tune,"  says  Dr.  Terry  (Choir- 
master, Westminster  Cathedral,  London)  "is 
disarmed  by  the  fact  that  Faber  wrote  his 
verses  for  it."  "On  like  grounds,"  Britten 
however  retorts,  "The  insertion  of  other  pop- 
ular tunes  might  be  defended,  e.  g.,  'The  Girl 
I  Left  Behind  Me,'  for  which,  and  for  others 
of  like   character,   Faber  wrote  words." 


Some  one  may  here  advance  this  objection: 
Some  of  the  best  of  our  old  church  melodies 
are  borrowed  from  secular  songs,  in  many 
cases  from  love  songs,  e.  g.,  "the  wonderful, 
unfathomable  melody":  "O  Sacred  Head,  sur- 
rounded by  crown  of  piercing  thorn"  why, 
then,  should  it  not  be  possible  to  do  also  in 
our  day  what  could  be  done  formerly?  The 
answer  to  this  question  is  given  by  Dreves  and 
Baeumker:  Because  the  melodies  of  secular 
songs  at  that  time  stood  in  quite  a  different 
relation  to  hymns  than  they  do  today.  The 
people  in  the  Middle  Ages  formed  their  melo- 
dies after  the  pattern  of  the  hymns  which  they 
heard  in  church,  and  in  the  same  ancient 
church  modes  in  which  their  hymns  were 
composed.  One  need  but  separate  the  tune 
from  the  text  in  the  old  popular  songs,  and 
then  ask  himself  whether  the  melodies  belonged 


to  a  sacred  or  to  a  secular  text,  and  he  will 
find  that  in  many  a  case  he  is  unable  to  decide. 
Concerning  the  modern  popular  song  and  the 
time  since  the  close  of  the  17th  century  one 
may  maintain  the  very  opposite,  namely,  that 
the  people  modelled  the  melodies  of  their 
hymns  upon  those  they  heard  and  sang  outside 
of  the  Church.  But  the  secular  songs  had  at 
that  time  emancipated  themselves  from  the 
Church  and  had  assumed  a  specifically  worldly 
character. 


As  we  are  just  dealing  with  objections,  let 
us  with  Dreves  here  at  once  consider  another, 
that  is  directed  against  a  sound  reform  of  our 
hymn  books.  But,  after  all,  the  people  like 
these  songs,  what  is  offered  them  in  their 
stead,  will  not  be  acceptable.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  people  also  like  rag-time,  our  artists 
have  unfortunately  but  too  often,  and  to  the 
greatest  detriment  of  art,  found  that  just 
what  is  worthless  and  trivial  is  approved  by 
the  masses.  Has  it  not  become  an  almost 
unfailing  criterion,  that  what  pleases  the 
people  is  objectionable  from  the  standpoint  of 
art,  while  what  is  trttly  standard,  does  not  im- 
press them  ?  The  popular  taste  is  largely 
spoiled. 

And  yet,  things  are  not  so  bad  and  hopeless 
in  this  respect  as  they  might  seem  to  be,  and 
it  would  evince  a  narrow  view  and  lack  of 
courage,  were  we  to  give  up  hope.  Do  we 
not  often  witness  in  our  own  day  how  at 
popular  concerts  hundreds  of  our  laboring 
people  listen  with  evident  delight  even  to  the 
most  profound  and  noble  orchestral  composi- 
tions? In  this  matter  we  must  proceed  accord- 
ing to  the  principle:  Out  of  sight,  out  of  mind. 
We  need  but  put  something  better  into  the 
hands  of  the  people,  give  them  time  to  digest 
their  initial  chagrin,  and  to  grow  accustomed 
to  the  novelty,  whereupon  a  further  want  will 
soon  cease  to  make  itself  felt.  But,  to  take 
a  near  view  and  to  speak  frankly:  In  this 
objection  the  people  are  only  an  advanced  post; 


the  chief  opponents  of  genuine  church  music 
are  to  be  found,  as  experience  goes  to  show, 
not  so  much  among  the  plain  people, 
as  among  the  half-educated  dabblers  in 
music,  and  unfortunately  in  certa  n 
quarters,  where  we  should  least  or  all 
expect  opposition  to  what  is  truly  ecclesias- 
tical. Sapienti  sat.  Here  in  America,  after 
all,  the  whole  objection  falls  to  the  ground 
of  its  own  accord.  For  who  really  sings  hymns 
in  our  country?  Is  it  the  people,  the  whole 
congregation?  No,  with  but  very  few  excep- 
tions and  apart  from  a  "Holy  God,  We  Praise 
Thy  Name"  sung  on  rare  occasions,  it  is  only 
the  children  that  sing  hymns.  School  children, 
however,  do  not  raise  the  above  objection; 
owing  to  the  constant  change  of  attendants  at 
a  given  school,  the  little  singers  soon  forget 
which  hymns  were  sung  even  a  short  time  ago. 
In  this  respect  we  can  do  with  school  children 
whatever  we  like.  But  when  we  have  once 
formed  a  good  taste  among  our  young  people, 
it  will  probably  be  preserved  also  in  their 
later  years. 

With  the  question  as  to  what  is  ecclesi- 
astical or  suitable  for  use  in  church,  that  of 
adopting  melodies  and  texts  used  by  Protest- 
ants or  composed  by  them,  is  in  some  way 
connected.  There  are  compilers  of  hymn  books 
who  rigorously  exclude  such  numbers,  even 
translations  of  the  liturgical  hymns  of  the 
church,  or,  for  example  of  the  "Salve  caput 
cruentatum  (O  Sacred  Head,  etc.),"  of  St. 
Bernard,  if  they  have  a  Protestant  source. 
Does  the  Church  demand  this?  Not  that  we 
know  of.  How  should  we  look  upon  the  mat- 
ter? Let  us  hear  Dreves:  "Concerning  Pro- 
testant hymns,"  he  says,  "the  first  and  irre- 
vocable rule  must  be,  that  pre-Reformation 
hymns,  which,  at  his  defection  from  the 
Church,  the  younger  son  took  with  him  on  his 
wanderings,  must  for  this  reason  not  be  given 
by  us.  First  of  all,  we  can  see  no  ground 
whatever  for  it,  and  besides,  we  should  thus 
have   to  rob   ourselves   of  the  very  best   and 


sweetest  hymns."  In  Lutheran  churches  they 
use  Gregorian  melodies;  should  the  Church 
therefore  throw  overboard  music  that  is  in  the 
fullest  sense  her  very  own? 

But  even  against  the  fact  that  certain 
hymn-texts  of  manifestly  Protestant  origin  are 
adopted  among  us  there  can  hardly  be  a  reason- 
able objection.  This  toleration  does  of  course 
not  extend  to  those  hymns  that  are  either 
heretical  or  have  a  heretical  tinge,  nor  to 
those  that  having  originally  been  rallying 
hymns  or  hymns  strictly  sectarian,  are  aimed 
at  the  old  Church.  Nor  can  an  objection  be 
raised  against  this  that  hymns  of  special 
merit,  which  have  long  ago  been  embodied  in 
Catholic  collections  (and  have  thus  practically 
become  Catholic  property),  should  now  remain 
in  the  same. 

Still  more  easily,  of  course,  may  one  be 
allowed  to  borrow  a  tune  of  "Protestant  origin." 
Witt,  the  great  reformer  of  church  music,  as 
well  as  other  zealous  and  orthodox  church 
musicians  have,  for  instance,  re-edited  the 
Protestant  Hans  Leo  Hasler's  beautiful  Mass, 
"Dixit  Maria,"  or  warmly  recommended  the 
same  for  performance  and,  accordingly,  this 
"Protestant"  Mass  composition  is  sung  by  the 
most  ecclesiastical-minded  cathedral  choirs  of 
Europe  at  the  official  divine  service;  no  one  has 
ever  protested  against  it;  why  then  should  it 
not  be  permissible  at  an  extra-liturgical  serv- 
ice to  sing  a  pious  melody  that  is  the  work 
of  a  Protestant  composer? 


B.     SOME  AMERICAN  HYMN  BOOKS:    + 

As  the  title  of  this  second  part  indicates, 
it  is  only  some  of  our  hymn  books  that  we  shall 
here  review;  they  are  however  all  characteristic 
of  either  one  or  the  other  of  the  two  opposite 
tendencies,  the  good  or  the  bad. 


1.  St.  Basil's  Hymnal.  Compiled  from 
Approved  Sources.  12th  Edition.  Tor- 
onto,   Canada;     St.    Michael's    College. 

Some  time  ago,  when  we  read  in  the  London 
Tablet  a  criticism  by  Dr.  Terry  of  the  music 


+  Catholic  Choirmaster  -  October  -   H16. 


10 


of  the  "Armagh  Hymnal,"  we  could  not  help 
thinking    of    St.    Basil's    Hymnal.      Here    are 
some    of    Dr.    Terry's    words:     "The    Armagh 
Hymnal  contains  music  so  incredible  that,  but 
for  a  reason  which  will  appear  later,  I  should 
have  declined  to  review  it.     I  have  never  ap- 
proached a  task  with  greater  reluctance."    "It 
is  difficult  to  believe  that  the  greater  part  of 
the   musical   setting   is    intended   to   be   taken 
seriously,  and  not  as  a  ghastly  joke."     "It  is 
a  monument  of  musical  illiteracy."     "In  these 
severe   but   necessary  criticisms   I   think   I   do 
better  service  than   the  inspired  critic  who — 
in   the  November  issue  of   The  Month — wrote 
(in    a    signed    article)    'From    every    point    of 
view — literary,     historical,  and     musical, — the 
Armagh   Hymnal   may   be   commended   to    the 
English  student  of  Hymnody.'    My  sympathies 
are    with    the    editor    of    The   Month.      His    is 
not   the    only   journal   which   has    been   badly 
iet  down'  in  this  way." 

Unfortunately  also  in  regard  to  St.  Basil's 
Hymnal  many  that  stand  in  high  places  have 
allowed  themselves  to  be  "let  down."  What 
our  verdict  on  this  hymnal  will  be  is  hereby 
intimated.  Yet  in  condemning  this  wretched 
work  we  are  in  the  best  company.  Fr.  Bon- 
vin's  strictures,  which  we  quoted  at  the  very 
beginning  of  the  first  part  of  this  article, 
manifestly  refer  to  this  book;  Joseph  Otten 
likewise  classes  it  among  hymnals  which  he 
calls  "miserable  excuses  for  Catholic  hymn 
books,"  and  "trashy  collections,"  corrupting 
children's  taste  and  rendering  it  almost  impos- 
sible to  initiate  them  into  music  and  religious 
poetry  worthy  of  Almighty  God  and  in  accord 
with   Catholic   intelligence. 

In  fact  as  regards  unchurchliness,  musical 
incompetence  and  depravity  of  taste,  St.  Basil's 

CfrrAjJL  l.(St  (hem. $r.  Jo.  I S) 


Hymnal  is  the  saddest  hymn  book  we  have  ever 
laid  eyes  on.  It  offers  with  few  exceptions 
the  most  vulgar  melodies  in  nothing  but  dance 
and  march  rythms,  most  miserably  harmonized 
and  abounding  in  snatches  from  the  most  pro- 
fane ditties  and  operettas.  Not  content  with 
such  snatches,  it  literally  takes  over  entire 
secular  songs,  and  bungles,  curtails  or  extends 
them,  in  order  to  make  them  fit  its  texts. 

A  few  examples:  No.  41  is  nothing  but  the 
Russian  folk-song  circulating  in  Germany 
since  about  1843  under  the  name  Das  Dreiges- 
pann;  "sent  ihr  drei  Rosse  vor  dem  Wagen  und 
diesen  jungen  Postilion?"  No.  16  is  the  Styrian 
Yodler:  "Wenn  der  Schnee  von  der  Alma  weg- 
gageth,"  composed  by  Hisel  in  Graz  (1820);' 
No.  25  is  Prach's  well-known  song  "Das  Al- 
phorn."  No.  186  presents  the  entire  melody 
(with  the  addition  of  two  flourishes)  of  the 
Thuringian  folk  song:  "Ach,  wie  ist's  moglich 
dann,  dass  ich  dich  lassen  kann,"  ascribed  to 
Kucken,  but  composed  by  Lux  in  1827.  No. 
22  is,  note  for  note,  The  American  popular 
song-tune:  "The  Vacant  Chair."  Nos.  57  and 
66  are  French  secular  songs.  No.  1  is  borrowed 
from  Donizetti's  Lucia  di  Lammermoor.  The 
melody  is  sung  in  the  opera  by  Edgardo,  as 
he  stabs  himself  at  the  grave  of  his  lady  love. 
An  edifying  association  of  ideas  in  church! 

However  much  out  of  place  these  tunes  are 
in  church,  they  are  at  least  music.  But  can 
this  honorable  designation  be  given  to  what  is 
original  in  St.  Basil's  Hymnal,  so  dreadfully 
barren  in  ideas  and  vulgar  as  it  is?  Example 
1  of  our  musical  appendix  will  give  us  an 
idea  of  this,  while  the  second  example  shows 
how  unfit  for  the  organ  and  how  wretched  the 
harmonization  largely  is. 


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The  texts  from  a  literary  standpoint  are 
worthy  of  the  music:  throughout  we  find  sen- 
timental doggerel,  poor  in  ideas  and  disjointed 
in  thought;  at  times  quite  meaningless.  Let 
us  open  the  book  at  random,  for  instance  at 
No.  91: 

"Queen  of  Hearen,  when  we  are  sad, 

Best  solace  of  our  pains; 
It  tell  us,  though  on  earth  we  toil, 

Our  Mother  lives  and  reigns. 
Mary!  dearest  name  of  all, 

The  holiest  and  the  best, 
The  first  low  word  that  Jesus  lisped 
Laid  on  His  Mother's  breast." 
"It,"  both  in  grammar  and  in  sense,  is  awk- 
ward   and   unclear.      And   should    Our   Lady's 
name  really  be  to  us  the  dearest  of  all,  the 
holiest  and  the  best?     What  about  the  name 
of  her  Divine  Son  ?     And  did  Jesus  really  call 


His  Mother  by  name,  as  the  first  word  that 
crossed  His  lips,  or  did  He  do  so  at  all  in  His 
life?  Even  we  poor  mortals  have  more  re- 
spect for  our  mothers.  Let  us  pass  on  to 
the  next  number,  92: 

" Mother  dearest,  Mother  fairest, 
Help  of  all  who  call  on  thee; 

Virgin  purest,  brightest,  rarest, 
Help  us,  help,  we  cry  to  thee: 

Mary,  help  us,  help  we  pray, 

Help  us  in  all  care  and  sorrow: 

Mary,  help  us,  help  ive  pray." 


Help!  help!!  help!!!  and  again  help!!!! 

No.  93  serves  us  with: 

"Oh!  we  pray  thee,  loved  Mary, 
Mary,  fondly  we  entreat" 


12 


And  No.  87  with: 
"Let  us  sleep  on  thy  (Mary's)  breast  while  the 

night  taper  bums, 
And    wake    in    thy    care    when    the    morning 
returns." 
What     sentimental,     prosaic     and     unduly 
familiar  language! 


No.  99: 
"Thou   has   made    our  desert    bloom 

Mary,  deign  to  hear  our  prayer; 
If  to-night  we  seek  the  tomb, 

Shine  upon  the  desert  there." 


In  No.  81,  a  barcarolle,  whose  harmonies, 
in  all  but  one  and  a  half  bars,  oscillate  ex- 
clusively between  the  tonic  and  the  dominant, 
the  poet  (!)  or  poetess  (!)  petitions: 
"Ora  pro  nobis,  the  wave  must  rock  our  sleep, 
Ora,  Mater,  ora,  star  of  the  deep." 

This  petition  is  quite  superfluous;  the 
melody  and  its  harmonization  do  all  the  rock- 
ing to  sleep  required. 


No.  109: 
"A  wanderer  here  through  many  a  wild, 

Where  few  their  way  can  see, 
Bloom  with  thy  fragrance  on  thy  child, 
O  Mary,  remember  me." 


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And  such  a  book  that  stands  beneath  all 
criticism  pretends  to  be  "compiled  from  ap- 
proved sources,"  and  dares  in  its  preface  to 
speak  of  a  "great  end"  which  the  hymnal 
serves.  Unfortunately  the  wretched  compila- 
tion, that  has  had  a  sale  of  600,000  copies,  can 
in  its  preface  maintain  with  but  too  much 
truth  it  is  "patronized  and  encouraged  by  the 
devoted  educational  communities  throughout 
Canada  and  the  United  States." 


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§ 


2.  The  De  La  Salle  Hymnal.  By  the  Broth- 
ers of  the  Christian  Schools.  New  York. 
La  Salle  Bureau.     (1913) 

The  preface  of  the  books  says:  "The  De 
La  Salle  Hymnal  is  offered  to  the  Catholic 
public  in  the  sincere  hope  that  it  may  be  a 
valuable  aid  in  religious  training.  ...  It 
is  of  great  importance  that  the  impression 
be  good  and  the  emotion  noble.  This  Hymnal 
aims  to  secure  both  results.  It  has  retained 
what  was  good  in  its  predecessor,  the  Catholic 
Youth's  Hymn  Book,  while  studiously  avoiding 
its  defects."  The  frank  admission  of  defects  in 
the  former  book  is  gratifying.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  it  vied  with  St.  Basil's  Hymnal  in 
musical  wretchedness  and  scandalous  un- 
churchliness.  We  willingly  concede  to  the 
preface  that  the  harmonization  has  now  been 


5 


put  on  a  higher  level,  that  "the  organ  accom- 
paniment has  been  adapted  to  the  organ,"  and 
that  "piano  arrangements  have  been  excluded." 
But  much  of  the  bad  has  been  taken  over 
from  the  former  book,  and  all  the  good  that  is 
new  is  not  of  the  best;  one  rather  observes 
even  in  what  is  proper  from  a  musical  ecclesi- 
astical standpoint,  a  predilection  for  what  is 
mediocre  and  superficial,  and,  where  possible, 
bordering  on  the  trivial.  The  musician  must 
emphatically  protest  against  the  first  portion 
of  the  following  assertion  in  the  preface, 
namely  that  "every  tune  in  the  book  is  either 
of  acknowledged  worth  as  music  or  has  long 
been  associated  with  Catholic  traditions  in  this 
country."  We  should  like  to  see  the  musician 
who,  for  instance,  has  "acknowledged  the 
worth  of  No.  64.      (See  No.  3  of  our  musical 


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appendix.")  And  there  are  a  number  of  such 
pieces  in  the  book.  More  than  one  is  a  medley 
of  fragments  from  secular  songs;  this  is  the 
case  in  regard  to  every  section  of  No.  16.  How 
amusing,  or  rather  how  revolting,  it  is  to  hear 
in  a  "Jesu  dulcis  memoria"  in  one  passage  the 
strain:  "Kann  i  gleich  nit  all  weil  bei  dir  sein" 
from  the  South-German  love  ditty:  "Muss  i 
denn  zum  Stadtele'  naus,"  and  in  the  following 
phrase  that  of  "O  jerum,  jerum,  jerum,  O  quae 
mutation  rerum,"  from  the  students'  song: 
"O  alte  Burscheniherrlichkeit!" 

Unfortunately  the  lame  excuse  that  many 
hymns  "have  long  been  associated  with  Catho- 
lic traditions  in  this  country"  is  applied  but  too 
often  in  this  book.  These  are  nothing  but 
objectionable  traditions  that  are  in  strongest 
opposition  to  the  Motu  Proprio  of  Pius  X.,  to 
which  the  preface  dares  declare  that  the 
hymnal  conforms,  and  are  far  from  effecting 
the  "good  impression,  noble  emotion,  and 
religious  training"  to  which  the  book  pretends 
to  aspire.  And  why  should  a  new  book  be  pub- 
lished, if  the  former  unworthy  music  is  any- 
how to  be  retained?  In  that  case  the  old 
fleshpots  of  Egypt  might  continue  to  appease 
the  ungodly  hunger. 

The  editors  assure  us  that  "the  editorial 
file  has  been  applied  unsparingly  to  all  the 
vernacular  verses,  in  order  to  secure  both  good 
English  and  conformity  to  the  musical  rhythm 


of  the  hymns"  The  musical  unfitness  of  the 
book  taken  as  a  whole  relieves  us  of  the 
trouble  of  testing  the  truth  of  this  assertion. 
All  in  all  we  say  with  Father  Bonvin:  "Little 
is  gained  by  re-editing  certain  hymnals  under 
a  different  name  after  the  elimination  of 
some  numbers  and  the  improvement  of  the 
harmonic  dress.  Such  books  are  beneath  all 
criticism;  they  simply  cannot  be  improved; 
they  cam  benefit  the  cause  only  by  disappearing 
entirely." 


3.  The  American  Catholic  Hymnlal;  Accord- 
ing to  the  Motu  Proprio  of  His  Holiness  Pope 
Pius  X;  written,  arranged  and  compiled  espe- 
cially for  the  Catholic  Youth  of  the  United 
States  by  the  Marist  Brothers.  P.  J.  Kenedy 
&  Sons,  New  York.    (1913) 

The  compilers  of  this  book,  according  to 
the  preface,  look  upon  it  as  a  "notable  work" 
whose  tunes  are  "remarkable  for  their  relig- 
ious, prayerful  tone."  "Old  favorite  airs  of 
recognized  worth  are  indeed  also  included," 
but  "many  of  the  hymns  are  wholly  new." 
Also  here  the  musician  will  be  of  a  different 
opinion  as  to  the  "recognized  worth"  of  these 
"old  favorite  airs."  As  to  the  "religious,  pray- 
erful tone,"  the  rhythm  of  popular  ditties  and 
waltz  and  march  movements  do  not  indeed 
celebrate  such  orgies  in  this  book  as  for  in- 
stance   in    St.    Basil's    Hymnal;    nevertheless, 


14 


very  many  pieces  also  in  this  respect  have 
much  that  is  trivial  about  them,  and  where  the 
rhythm  is  worthy  and  removed  from  worldly 
ways,  the  commonplace  and  uninspired  melody 
leaves  us  too  indifferent  to  have  any  influence 
upon  our  religious  feelings. 

Amateurishness  with  all  the  barrenness  of 
idea,  a  lack  of  taste  usually  associated  with 
this  term,  is  the  signature  of  this  work.  The 
melodies  resemble  one  another,  like  one  egg 
does  another.  The  collection  claims  to  be  in 
conformity  with  the  Motu  Proprio;  at  any  rate, 
however,  it  sorely  lacks  the  second  qualifica- 
tion set  down  in  that  papal  document  for  all 
church  music,  namely  "true  art."  Even  a 
simple  hymn  can  and  should  be  true  art. 


By  the  way,  the  insipid  Lourdes  Pilgrim 
tune  with  the  wrong  Latin  accentuation  of  the 
last  syllables  of  the  refrain:  Ave,  ave,  ave, 
Maria,"  is  in  this  hymnal  (No.  144)  ascribed 
to  Brother  M.  J.  The  latter  put  the  words: 
"All  hail,  etc.,"  to  the  passage  in  question, 
and  has  thus  evaded  the  offensive  accentuation. 
The  first  part  of  the  hymn  is  really  a  paragon 
of  musical  simplicity  in  more  than  one  sense 
of  the  term.  For  the  sake  of  curiosity  we 
reproduce  the  whole  tune  in  our  musical  appen- 
dix No.  4. 

It  is  a  pity  that  the  book  should  have  such 
a  splendid  makeup  and  exemplary  binding; 
wherever  one  opens  the  rather  large  volume  it 
lies  flat. 


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4.  Crown  Hymnal.  By  Rev.  L.  J.  Kavanagh 
and  James  M.  McLaughlin.  Ginn  &  Co.,  Bos- 
ton.    (1911) 

To  form  a  judgment  of  this  book  the  fol- 
lowing features  may  serve:  It  contains  much 
from  Lambillotte.  As  meritorious  as  were  the 
labors  of  this  religious  in  the  field  of  Gregorian 
Chant,  so  much,  too,  did  he  work  harm  by  his 
own  compositions,  which  must  be  declared 
models  of  bad  taste  and  unchurchliness.  The 
Crown  Hymnal,  furthermore,  borrows  entire 
pieces  from  secular  music.  A  few  examples  of 
this:  No.  34  (Graces  From  My  Jesus  Flowing) 
is  literally  the  Andanlte  grazioso  of  the  Sonata 
in  the  A  major  by  Mozart.  No.  43  is  a  Russian 
folk-song  that  imitates  the  pealing  of  bells; 
and  No.  48  is  a  French  song  of  which  we  can 
just  now  recall  only  the  words  of  the  refrain: 
"0  ma  partrie,  o  mon  pays." 


In  other  numbers  we  are  reminded  now 
of  this,  now  of  that  secular  piece;  thus  in  the 
unspeakably  trivial  melody  of  No.  37  (My 
Jesus,  Lord,  My  God,  My  All)  the  middle  part 
is  identical  with  the  passage:  "So  viel  Voglein 
als  da  fliegen,"  from  the  German  song,  "So  viel 
Stern'  am  Himmel  stehen."  This  passage, 
after  all,  though  not  churchly,  is  anyhow  the 
only  musically  respectable  turn  in  the  whole 
piece.  The  miserable  hymn  is  found  in  ail  our 
bad  hymnals  and  is  much  sung.  How  can  a 
good,  not  to  say  an  ecclesiastical  taste,  thus 
thrive  among  our  young  people  ? 

The  musical  poverty  of  some  numbers  is 
really  distressing.  We  need  but  consider  the 
trivial  No.  15  (see  our  musical  appendix,  Ex.  5) 
with  its  manifold  repercussions  of  the  same 
tone  tripping  along  in  an  allegro  movement 
five  distinct  times.     One  cannot  help  thinking 


15 


of  the  comic  students'  song:  "Was  kommt 
dort  von  der  Hoh,  'was  kommt  dort  von  der 
ledernen  Hoh?'  " 

The  much-heard  hymn  No.  7  ("Hear  Thy 
Children,  Gentle  Jesus")  with  its  tasteless 
leaps  and  bounds  in  the  last  four  measures 
should  at  length  disappear  from  our  hymnals. 
It  is  the  tune  of  the  German  hymn:  "Schon- 
stes  Kindlein,  bestes  Knablein,"  which  orig- 
inated in  a  religiously  shallow  age.  Would 
that  we  could  condemn  to  Orcus  also  hymn 
No.  87  ("Daughter  of  a  Mighty  Father,"  com- 
posed probably  by  Lambillotte)  with  its  ridicu- 
lous accentuation  of  the  word  macula  on  the 
last  syllable,  repeated  five  times  in  the  short 
Latin  refrain:     "Macula  non  est  in  te." 

The  Crown  Hymnal,  too,  contains  (as  No. 
108)  the  Lourdes  Pilgrim  Tune,  which  we 
have  already  spoken  of;  it  keeps  the  orig- 
inal Latin  text  of  the  refrain;  yet  to  avoid 
the  ludicrous  accentuation  of  the  French  hymn, 
it  omits  the  first  up-beat,  changes  that  of  the 
second  musical  phrase  to  a  feminine  ending 
appended  to  the  first  phrase,  inserts  a  new 
note  in  the  sixth  ba:-  and  thus  entirely  de- 
stroys the  original  rhythm  and  the  agreement 
with  the  other  sections  of  the  piece. 

The  book  contains  very  little  good  music 
of  a  specifically  ecclesastical  character  (ab- 
stracting, of  course,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
other  hymnals,  from  Gregorian  melodies). 
Despite  all  this,  it  too  does  not  fail,  in  the 
very  first  sentence  of  the  preface  to  refer  to 
the  Motu  Proprio. 


has  been  indeed  far  surpassed  by  its  successor 
in  value  and  excellence,  especially  in  regard 
to  the  texts,  yet  it  was,  before  the  appearance 
of  the  latter,  the  best  English  hymn  book  as 
far  as  the  music  was  concerned,  and  as  to  its 
texts  at  least  not  worse  than  most  of  the  rest. 


5.  Psallite.  Catholic  English  Hymns  col- 
lected by  Alexander  Roesler,  S.  J.  5th  Edition. 
B.  Herder,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

This  book  would  deserve  an  extended  dis- 
cussion; the  circumstances,  however,  that  it 
developed  into  Bonvin's  Hosanna  makes  such  a 
discussion  superfluous.  In  fact,  Hosanna, 
which  first  appeared  as  the  sixth  edition  of 
Psallite,  took  over  almost  the  whole  musical 
contents   of  Roesler's   book.     Though   Psallite 


6.  Hosanna.  Catholic  Hymn  Book  with  an 
Appendix  of  Prayers  and  Devotions.  By  Lud- 
wig  Bonvin,  S.J.  Op.  97.  Fourth  Edition  fully 
revised  and  augmented.     B.  Herder,  St.  Louis, 

Mo.     (1914) 

Also  in  the  case  of  this  book  we  shall  con- 
sult the  preface.  In  its  place  we  find  the  ver- 
dict of  the  censor  of  the  book  appointed  by 
the  Bishop  of  Buffalo.  It  gives  us  pleasure 
to  say  that  the  use  of  the  hymnal  for  several 
years  has  convinced  us  of  the  entire  correct- 
ness of  this  verdict,  and  that  the  praise  be- 
stowed by  him  upon  the  book  is  applicable  in 
a  still  higher  degree  to  the  fourth  edition  now 
before  us,  which  contains  quite  a  number  of 
excellent  new  texts.  We  herewith  submit  to 
the  reader  the  censor's  verdict:  "Regarding 
the  musical  quality  of  the  pieces,"  he  says,  "1 
may  note  that  here  we  have  a  choice  selection 
of  the  most  beautiful  hymns  that  have  been 
used  by  the  Catholic  Church  since  the  twelfth 
century,  and  which  really  breathe  the  true 
Catholic  spirit.  None  of  the  pieces  is  to  be 
classed  among  the  trashy  or  unchurchly  sort 
of  music."  In  fact,  we  meet  here  (as  No.  50) 
Hasler's  tune,  "0  Sacred  Head  Surrounded," 
already  referred  to  in  the  first  part  of  this 
article.  Dreves  calls  it  a  "wonderful  melody 
of  unfathomable  depth."  He  characterizes  also 
other  tunes  contained  in  Hosanna;  thus  he 
calls  the  twelfth-century  tune  of  No.  55 
("Christ  the  Lord  Has  Risen")  "perhaps  the 
most  powerful  of  all  hymns,"  "that  from  the 
shoulders  and  upward  towers  over  all." 
"Maiden  Most  Beautiful"  (No.  107),  "which 
exhibits  the  venerable  old  form  of  strophe, 
antistrophe,  and  epode,"  is  considered  by  him 
as    a    "most    symmetrically   constructed    tune, 


16 


first  swelling  more  and  more  mightily  and 
then  subsiding  with  more  and  more  charm  '' 
The  tune  of  No.  8  ("Make  Broad  the  Path") 
can  be  traced  back  to  no  older  source  than  ?. 
hymn  book  of  the  seventeenth  century,  yet  it 
bears  the  most  unmistakable  marks  not  only 
of  a  greater  but  of  a  very  great  age.  Dreves 
says  of  it:  "This  hymn  has  always  made  upon 
me  the  impression  of  stirring,  heaven-assail- 
ing power.  The  subjective  mood  is,  as  in  all 
Advent  hymns,  that  of  expectation,  but  here 
it  is  not,  as  would  seem  usual,  a  quiet,  pain- 
ful longing  and  expectation,  but  a  holy  impa- 
tience, a  pious  impetuousness,  that  would  do 
violence  even  to  heaven.  These  emotions  are 
expressed  in  a  well-nigh  matchless  way  by 
the  strong  Doric  mode  in  which  the  melody 
strides  along."  Of  the  hymn,  "A  Great  and 
Mighty  Wonder"  (No.  20),  probably  a  four- 
teenth-century product,  he  writes :  "The  melody 
is  a  real  folk-tune."  The  changing  rhythm,  by 
which  with  each  third  verse  the  hymn  passes 
over  into  4-4th  time,  has  an  agreeably  sur- 
prising and  enlivening  effect."  No.  137  "Hail, 
Mary,  Star  of  Morning")  has  a  beautiful  text 
with  a  mediaeval  flavor;  its  tune,  according  to 
Dreves,  is  "a  fragrant  blossom,  a  tender  and 
yet  not  at  all  effeminate  melody  that  would 
deserve  to  live  everywhere  on  the  lips  and  in 
the  heart  of  the  people";  the  tune  can  be 
traced  back  to  the  seventeenth  century.  The 
melody  of  No.  11  ("A  Child  Is  Born  in  Beth- 
lehem"), which  can  also  be  found  in  the  hymn 
books  of  the  seventeenth  century,  he  calls  a 
"hymn  of  heavenly  sweetness."  To  these  gems 
of  sacred  song  especially  characterized  by 
Dreves  we  could  link  many  others,  as,  for  ex- 
ample, Nos.  15,  17,  26,  47,  48,  62,  79,  80,  92, 
106,  129,  133,  134,  136,  149,  141,  142,  to  enter 
upon  which  would  here  require  too  much  space. 
We  have  examined  all  the  texts  as  to  their 
contents  and  their  singableness,  and  can  en- 
dorse the  opinion  of  the  censor  deputatus  in 
this  regard  when  he  writes:  1.  "The  wording 
of  text  embodies  sound  Catholic  thought  and 
sentiment  expressed  in  true  hymn  color.     All 


sentimentality,  verbiage  and  meaningless  ring- 
ing of  phrases  has  been  carefully  debarred. 
2.  The  language,  as  such,  is  not  only  correct 
and  idiomatic,  but  many  of  the  pieces  will,  on 
close  examination,  be  found  to  be  genuinely 
poetical;  not  one  of  the  numbers  lacks  the 
quality  of  worthiness  or  sinks  below  the  level 
of  mediocrity.  3.  An  important  feature  of 
the  book  is  this,  that  the  texts  are  really 
adapted  to  the  melody  and  rhythm,  with  the 
accents,  pauses  and  caesuras  placed  naturally 
and  properly,  and  this  holds  true  of  all  stan- 
zas. In  all  these  respects  (1,  2,  3)  it  will  be 
readily  acknowledged  that  Ft.  Bonvin's  work 
is  ...  a  great  improvement. 
The  entire  work  is  the  result  of  most  pains- 
taking labor  and  rare  taste.  .  .  .  The 
purpose  of  the  author  has  evidently  been  to 
incorporate  the  best  of  the  best,  and  I  do  not 
hesitate  to  say  that  he  has  succeeded." 

To  the  above  we  would  add  by  the  remark 
that  despite  all  the  care  spent  upon  the  book 
and  rightly  pointed  out  by  the  censor,  the 
author  hass,  nevertheless,  not  succeeded  to 
effect  everywhere  full  agreement  between  the 
caesuras  of  the  music  and  of  the  text.  These 
cases  are,  however,  very  rare  and  hardly  dis- 
turbing. Still  less,  owing  to  the  well-known 
carelessness  of  our  hymn  writers  of  the  past 
in  this  respect,  could  he  avoid  every  musical 
accentuation  of  small  unimportant  words  that 
should  remain  unemphasized.  like  "of,"  "at," 
etc.  Among  the  texts  which,  according  to  the 
censor,  at  least  do  not  "sink  below  the  level  of 
mediocrity,"  we  should  count  a  few  hymns  to 
the  Blessed  Virgin  that  almost  confine  them- 
selves to  a  series  of  invocations  from  the 
Litany  of  Loretto.  For  singing  they  may,  how- 
ever, serve  as  well  as  more  coherent  texts. 


7.  The  Parish  Hymnal.  Compiled  and  ar- 
ranged by  Joseph  Otten.  B.  Herder,  St.  Louis, 
Mo.     (1915) 

This  hymnal  also  deserves  to  be  recom- 
mended from  an  ecclesiastical  standpoint.  In 
the  preface  we  read:     "It  has  been  the  aim  to 


17 


offer  such  hymns  only  as  are  worthy,  both  in 
text  and  melody,  of  the  high  purpose  for  which 
they  are  destined."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  a 
close  examination  of  all  the  numbers  has 
shown  us  that  there  is  not  a  single  unchurchly 
tune  in  the  book.  A  good  many  are  beautiful 
and  valuable,  e.  g.,  Nos.  10,  18,  22,  31,  36,  51, 
68,  71,  74,  85;  yet  we  miss  some  of  the  very 
finest  tunes  of  our  hymn  repertory.  Accord- 
ing to  the  preface,  the  compiler  wishes  know- 
ingly to  incorporate  "no  texts  (not  even  trans- 
lations, no  matter  how  excellent)  or  tunes  of 
non-Catholic  origin."  By  thus  needlessly  mak- 
ing the  exclusion  of  every  non-Catholic  product 
his  inexorable  principle  he  has  robbed  himself 
of  many  texts  that  would  rhythmically  have 
been  much  better  adapted  to  his  tunes,  and  also 
of  many  a  precious  melodic  gem;  e.  g.,  the 
"0  Sacred  Head  Surrounded,"  by  the  old  Prot- 
estant composer,  Hans  Leo  Hasler,  a  melodv 
that  has  been  incorporated  into  many  of  the 
best  Catholic  hymnals  of  different  countries. 
(See  what  we  have  quoted  from  Dreves  on  this 
question  in  the  first  part  of  this  paper.)  The 
preface  assures  us  that  "care  has  been  exer- 
cised in  the  selection  of  the  English  texts." 
This  care  might  have  been  greater  in  regard 
to  the  agreement  of  the  accents  and  caesuras 
of  the  text  with  those  of  the  music  chosen, 
and,  furthermore,  in  regard  to  the  number  of 
syllables  required  by  the  notes  of  the  melody; 
in  some  numbers  the  melody  is  curtailed 
owing  to  an  insufficient  number  of  syllables 
(e.  g.,  in  Nos.  10,  28,  73),  or  burdened  with 
new  notes  where  there  was  a  surplus  of  syl- 
lables in  a  verse  (e.  g.,  in  Nos.  23,  87).  This 
in  most  cases  implies  an  impairing  of  the 
melody. 

In  order  to  make  compilers  of  hymnals  prac- 
tically realize  the  importance  of  closely  ex- 
amining whether  a  given  text  can  really  be 
fitted  to  a  given  melody,  as  well  as  the  frequent 
need  of  a  text  revision,  we  shall  enter  upon  a 
few  of  the  examples  that  struck  us  in  this 
book: 

In  Nos.  3  and  4   ("0  Come,  O  Come,  Em- 


manuel") the  music  has  a  caesura  after  the 
first  verse;  hence  the  word  "free"  seems  Lo 
be  joined  to  "Jesse,"  while  the  sense  requires 
that  it  should  be  drawn  to  the  following  verse; 
for  the  same  reason  the  refrain,  when  sung, 
gives  a  wrong  sense,  for  instead  of  Israel, 
Emmanuel  is  called  upon  to  rejoice:  "Rejoice, 
rejoice,  Emmanuel."  (The  same  is  true  of  the 
Latin  text  of  No.  5.)  In  No.  4  this  blemish 
is  removed  by  rearranging  the  words,  but  the 
music  wrongly  accents  the  word  "rejoice," 
namely,  on  the  first  syllable. 

The  charmingly  naive  melody  of  No.  10  was 
Dbbed  of  a  number  of  its  beauties;  some 
phrases  of  the  original  ("In  dulci  jubilo") 
begin  on  the  up-beat,  others  on  the  down- 
beat, and  this  agreeably  interrupts  the 
rhythmic  monotony;  the  Parish  Hymnal  does 
away  with  the  up-beat  throughout,  on  account 
of  the  consistently  trochaic  text;  on  the  other 
hand,  in  the  11th  and  19th  measures  (also  on 
account  of  the  text,  which  here  has  one  syl- 
lable too  many),  it  converts  the  dotted  half- 
note  into  a  half  and  a  quarter  note,  which  here 
makes  the  melody  somewhat  frisky.  In  the 
27th  and  28th  measures  the  original  text  has 
only  one  syllable,  and  hence  slurs  the  two 
notes,  thus  producing  a  charming  portamento 
from  the  tonic  to  the  dominant;  the  Parish 
Hymnal  in  three  stanzas  sacrifices  this  slur- 
ring on  account  of  a  surplus  of  syllables  In 
its  texts.  In  the  third  stanza  at  the  15th 
measure  the  metrical  accent  strongly  empha- 
sizes the  article  "the,"  which  should  receive  no 
stress,  and  in  the  20th  measure  the  musical 
caesura  wrongly  draws  the  auxiliary  "are"  to 
the  preceding  part  of  the  sentence.  The  text 
used  in  No.  22  is  partly  involved,  and  therefore 
hard  to  understand.  "Grief  divine"  in  the  first 
stanza  (like  "purity  divine"  in  No.  87)  is, 
when  referred  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  dogmat- 
ically objectionable.  The  wish:  "Let  me  to 
my  latest  breath  in  my  body  bear  the  death 
of  that  dying  Son  of  thine,"  expects  rather 
much  of  ordinary  Christians.  The  two  eighth 
notes  that  appear  five  times  in  No.  23  are  not 


18 


to  be  found  in  the  original  of  Isaak  ("Inns- 
bruck, ich  muss  dieh  lassen"),  they  impair 
the  melody,  especially  in  connection  with  the 
two  quarter  notes  instead  of  the  half  note  of 
the  original  at  the  first  two  beats  of  the  2., 
4.,  8.,  and  10.,  measures.  Redundant  syllables 
of  the  text  are  again  accountable  for  this  addi- 
tion of  a  note  in  the  last-named  four  meas- 
ures; while,  on  the  contrary,  the  last  verse, 
which  has  not  enough  syllables  for  the  corre- 
sponding passage  of  the  original,  occasions  a 
mutilation  of  the  melody.  At  the  end  of  the 
fourth  verse  of  the  first  stanza  the  music  has 
a  caesura,  which,  indeed,  is  rightly  indicated 
in  the  Parish  Hymnal  by  a  line  drawn  through 
the  staff;  this  caesura,  however,  brings  about 
a  want  of  sense  in  the  text:  "good  Lord,  that 
I."  It  is  a  pity  for  the  heartfelt  and  beautiful 
melody  of  Isaak!  (See  in  Hosanna,  No.  92, 
the  customary  form  of  this  tune.)  The  text 
in  No.  26  receives  through  the  music  a  num- 
ber of  false  accentuations:  "Conqueror,  vic- 
tory', beautiful,  untenanted,  joyously',  glori- 
fi'ed."  The  same  happens  in  No.  35,  and  that, 
too,  in  a  very  noticeable  way:  "Comforter," 
"weakness  of  our  flesh."  Nos.  73,  76,  81  and 
82  accentuate  "scatter,  violence,  altar,  ingrate, 
groaning,  and  patiently."  In  Nos.  69  and  100, 
on  account  of  the  musical  caesura,  we  are  sup- 
posed to  sing:  "I  suffer  still  in  love,"  instead 
of  "still  in  love  I  ever  true  will  be,"  and,  like- 
wise: "furnace  till." 

Owing  to  the  great  extent  this  article  has 
already  reached,  we  cannot  any  more  carry 
out  our  plan  of  discussing  in  detail  every 
hymn. 

8.  Rev.  Alfred  Young's  "Catholic  Hym- 
nal,*' a  book  whose  author  undertook  the  bold 
and  gigantic  task,  scarcely  possible  of  accom- 
plishment, of  successfully  composing  all  alone 
237  popular  hymns. 

Also  in  regard  to  the  following  hymn 
books  for  two  voices  we  must  content  ourselves 


simply  with  mentioning  them  approvingly  and 
briefly  characterizing  them: 

9.  "Cantemus  Domino."  Catholic  Hymnal 
with  English  and  Latin  Words  for  two  and 
three  equil  voices.  Edited  by  Ludwig  Bonvin, 
S.J.    Op.  104.    B.  Herder,  St.  Louis,  Mo.     1912. 

10.  "Cantate,"  a  Collection  of  English  and 
Latin  Hymns,  etc.,  Compiled  by  John  Singen- 
berger.     F.  Pustet  &  Co.,  N.  Y.     1912. 

The  latter  collection,  with  its  natural  and 
harmonious  settings  for  two  voices  and  on  ac- 
count of  the  preference  it  gives  to  tunes  that 
have  a  rhythmically  regular  structure,  is  espe- 
cially intended  to  be  used  by  parochial  school 
children  in  church,  while  the  "Cantemus 
Domino,"  by  a  very  tasteful  selection  of  mel- 
odies, choice  features  in  harmonization  and 
conduct  of  parts,  and  by  incorporating  some 
hymns  of  a  larger  and  more  artistic  structure, 
does  not,  indeed,  exclude  the  performers  just 
mentioned,  but  has  principally  convent  and  in- 
stitutional choirs  in  view. 
*     *     * 

ST.   BASIL'S  HYMNAL 

A    Review   of   the   New    Edition    Compiled    by 
the  Basilian  Fathers 

A  consideration  of  the  new  edition  of  the 
well-known  hymnal  would  not  be  complete 
without  reference  to  the  original  St.  Basil's 
Hymnal,  concerning  which  there  has  been  con- 
siderable discussion  in  Catholic  circles  for 
many  years.  To  those  who  may  not  be  in  a 
position  to  know  it  may  be  well  to  explain 
that  the  original  edition  (and  each  successive 
edition  up  to  the  one  under  consideration  at 
this  time)  has  been  severely  criticised  by  indi- 
viduals and  by  organizations  like  the  Society 
of  St.  Gregory  for  the  chief  reason  that  ii" 
contains  melodies  taken  from  secular  and 
operatic  sources,  and  because,  from  a  musical 
and  literary  point  of  view,  it  was  probably  the 
poorest  and  most  wretched  specimen  of  the 
entire    collection    of   miserable   hymnals    witli 


Catholic  Choirmaster  -   April   -   1919 


19 


which  the   Catholic   Church   has   been  afflicted 
f&r  many  generations. 

Mr.  Joseph  Otten,  writing  on  this  subject 
in  America  some  time  ago,  declared  that  the 
publication  of  St.  Basil's  Hymnal  and  hymnals 
of  like  calibre  was  a  misfortune,  and  they 
should  never  have  been  permitted  to  circulate. 
He  asserted  that  they  were  mere  "miserable 
excuses  for  Catholic  hymn  books,  corrupting 
children's  taste  and  rendering  it  almost  impos- 
sible to  initiate  them  into  music  and  religious 
poetry  worthy  of  Almighty  God  and  in  accord 
with  Catholic  intelligence."  Other  critics,  in 
the  persons  of  Rev.  Fr.  Habets,  O.M.I.,  and 
Dom  Lucien  David,  secretary  to  Dom  Pothier 
(in  the  Revue  du  Chant  Gregorian  Grenoble), 
have  expressed  surprise  at  the  fact  that  such 
books  were  accepted  as  Catholic  hymnals. 
James  P.  Dunn,  another  writer  in  America, 
vouchsafed  the  opinion  that  St.  Basil's  was  out 
of  date  and  unmusicianlike  in  arrangement. 

In  a  comprehensive  article  on  "Hymns  and 
Hymn  Books"  in  a  recent  number  of  the  Choir- 
master a  prominent  authority,  assuming  the 
pen  name  of  "Hymnologus,"  after  quoting  Dr. 
Terry's  famous  criticism  of  the  Armagh 
Hymnal,  to  the  effect  that  this  hymnal  "was  a 
monument  to  musical  illiteracy,"  and  that  it 
was  "difficult  to  believe  that  the  greater  part 
of  the  musical  setting  was  intended  to  be  taken 
seriously  and  not  as  a  ghastly  joke,"  stated 
that,  "unfortunately,  also,  in  regard  to  St. 
Basil's  Hymnal,  many  that  stand  in  high  places 
have  allowed  themselves  to  be  'let  lown'  in 
recommending  the  book  and  giving  it  their  ap- 
probation." This  writer,  going  into  detail, 
continued: 

"In  fact,  as  regards  unchurchliness,  mu- 
sical incompetence  and  depravity  of  taste, 
St.  Basil's  Hymnal  is  the  saddest  hymn 
book  we  have  ever  laid  eyes  on.  It  offers, 
with  few  exceptions,  the  most  vulgar  mel- 
odies in  nothing  but  dance  and  march 
rhythms,  most  miserably  harmonized  and 
abounding  in  snatches  from  the  most  pro- 
fane  ditties   and   operettas.     Not  content 


with  such  snatches,  it  literally  takes  over 
entire  songs,  and  bungles,  curtails  or  ex- 
tends them  in  order  to  make  them  fit  its 
texts.  A  few  samples:  No.  41  is  nothing 
but  the  Russian  folk-song  circulating  in 
Germany  since  about  1843  under  the 
name  "DAS  DREIGESPANN":  Seht  ihr 
drej  Rosse  vor  dem  Wagen  and  diesen 
jungen  Postilion?  No.  16  is  the  Styrian 
Yodler:  "WEN  DER  SCHNEE  VON  DER 
ALMA  WEGGAGETH,"  composed  by 
Hisel  in  Graz  (1820);  No.  25  is  Proch's 
well-known  song,  "DAS  ALPHORN."  No. 
186  presents  the  entire  melody  (with  addi- 
tion of  two  flourishes)  of  the  Thuringian 
folk-song:  "Ach,  wie  ist's  moglich  dann, 
das  ich  dich  lassen  kann,"  ascribed  to 
Kucken,  but  composed  by  Lux  in  1827. 
No.  22  is,  note  for  note,  the  American 
popular  song -tune,  "THE  VACANT 
CHAIR."  Nos.  67  and  66  are  French  sec- 
ular songs.  No.  1  is  borrowed  from  Doni- 
zetti's "LUCIA  DI  LAMMERMOOR."  The 
melody  is  sung  in  the  opera  by  Edgardo 
as  he  stabs  himself  at  the  grave  of  his 
lady  love.  An  edifying  association  of 
ideas  in  church! 

However  much  out  of  place  these  tunes 
are  in  church,  they  are  at  least  music. 
But  can  the  honorable  designation  he  given 
to  what  is  original  in  St.  Basil's  Hymnal, 
so  dreadfully  barren  in  ideas  and  vulgar 
as  it  is  ?  The  texts,  from  a  literary  stand- 
point, are  worthy  of  the  music;  through- 
out we  find  sentimental  doggerel,  poor  in 
ideas  and  disjointed  in  thought:  at  times 
quite  meaningless.  In  No.  81  a  barcarolle, 
whose  harmonies,  in  all  but  one  and  a 
half  bars,  oscillate  exclusively  between  the 
tonic  and  dominant,  the  poet  (!)  or  poetess 
(!)   petitions: 

"Ora  pro  nobis,  the  wave  must  rock  our 
sleep,  Ora  Mater,  ora,  star  of  the  deep." 

This  petition  is  quite  superfluous;  the 
melodies  and  its  harmonization  do  all  the 
rocking  to  sleep  required. 


20 

And  such  a  book  that  stands  beneath 
all  criticisms  pretends  to  be  compiled 
from  approved  sources  and  dares  in  its 
preface  to  speak  of  a  great  end  which 
the  hymnal  serves.  Unfortunately,  the 
wretched  compilation,  that  has  a  sale  of 
600,000  copies,  can  in  its  preface  maintain 
with  but  too  much  truth  it  is  patronized 
and  encouraged  by  the  devoted  educational 
communities  throughout  Canada  and  the 
United  States." 

This  lengthy  quotation  is  quite  in  order,  for 
it  is  pertinent  to  inquire,  in  view  of  the  state- 
ment of  the  publishers,  that  the  new  edition 
has  been  entirely  revised  and  completely  re- 
modeled how  sincere  is  the  conversion,  and  in 
what  particular  manner  does  this  book  vary 
from  the  original  edition? 

THE  "REVISED"  ST.  BASIL  HYMNAL 
For  a  reply  to  this  let  us  examine  carefully 
the   new   edition,    and   let  us   begin   from    the 
very  first  page: 


Omitting  a  hymn  to  St.  Basil  (without 
number),  and  proceeding  with  the  first  num- 
bered hymn,  we  find  our  melodic  friend  (quoted 
by  "Hymnologus")  from  the  opera  "Lucia  di 
Lammermoor"!  This  melody,  badly  garbled 
and  hiding  under  a  churchly  disguise  of 
changed  tempo  and  rhythm,  is  the  melody 
which  is  used  in  the  opera  as  a  vehicle  for 
these  words,  sung  by  Edgardo  before  stabbing 
himself: 

"Thou  hast  spread  thy  wings   to   heaven 
Oh  thou  spirit  pure  and  tender,  etc.,  etc. 
Bereft  of  thee  I  will  not  live 
Look  and  forgive,  Tho'  by  mortals  doomed  to 

sever 
Love  cannot  perish:  Reft  of  thee  I  cannot  live" 

etc.,  etc. 

This  melody,  so  widely  known,  serves  in 
this  new  edition  as  a  melodic  support  for  the 
text,  "God  of  My  Heart."     See  example  No.  1. 


No.  2  in  the  new  edition  gives  the  Prot- 
estant hymn  tune,  "Nearer,  My  God,  to  Thee." 
(We  are  considering  a  Catholic  hymnal.) 

No.  3,  "Holy  God,"  contains  the  same  old 
error  in  the  text  found  in  so  many  hymnals; 
viz.,  "Everlasting  is  thy  name"  (instead  of 
reign),  and  "Angel  choirs  are  singing"  (in- 
stead of  raising). 

No.  6  is  an  "Adapted  melody  from 
Haydn." 


-Q_J»ffl  off-  •foJD^-ruL-TM  -ftfl    -ftr 

No.  10  sounds  suspiciously  like  an  old 
southern  negro  melody,  "Sal,  am  de  pot 
a-boilin'!" 

No.  11  is  undoubtedly  derived  from  our 
famous  "Home,  Sweet  Home."  Here  is  the 
original  tune  and  the  adapted  one  used  for  the 
text,  "Jesus,  Jesus,  Dearest  Lord!"  (See 
No.  11  in  appendix.) 


21 


No.  17  is  another  "adapted  melody  from 
Haydn,"  demonstrating  the  poverty  of  our  re- 
sources. 

No.  18  is  a  splendid  example  of  dance  music, 
being  written  in  mazurka  rhythm,  with  a 
chorus  that  (in  the  first  measure)  is  taken 
bodily  from  the  Thuringian  folk-song,  "How 
Can  I  Leave  Thee!" 

No.  21  is  seemingly  the  one-time  favorite 
parlor  ballad,  "Too  Late!  Too  Late!"  (refer- 
ring to  the  Ten  Foolish  Virgins).  It  has  in 
this  setting  a  changed  melody  in  spots,  but 
the  rhythm   and  outline  clearly  determine  its 


origin.    It  here  masquerades  as  a  Sacred  Heart 
Song,  "Pity,  My  God!" 

No.  22  is  known  to  every  one  as  the  melody 
of  ''The  Vacant  Chair,"  a  famous  war  song. 
It  will  be  noted  that  no  acknowledgment  is 
made  of  the  original  sources  of  these  melodies, 
and  in  this  manner  a  species  of  humbug  is 
practiced,  for  many  of  our  priests  and  sisters 
do  not  know  that  they  are  singing  melodies 
originally  associated  with  texts  which  by  no 
stretch  of  imagination  could  be  called  devo- 
tional.    (See  No.  22  in  appendix.) 


We  aW£  lr^-feT  HT  S  ^  ^m  I**  ;%m  mil  h  Cm  l/acW  dhui  %.  ddlknjfflfc 


No.  25  is  the  famous  "Alpenhorn"  song,  by 
Proch,  quoted  by  "Hmynologus."  Again  no 
mention  is  made  of  the  fact  that  this  was  one 
of  the  popular  ballads  of  the  day,  and  that  the 
original  text  contains  reference  such  as,  "for 
the  bliss  I  am  in  search  of,  I  can  find  alone 
with  thee!"  Why  was  this  considered  particu- 
larly suitable  for  a  frame  upon  which  to  at- 
tach the  text: 

"Peace,  be  still!    Our  God  is  dwelling 
Silent   on   his   Altar  throne"? 

No.  29,  "Form  Your  Ranks,  Oh,  All  We 
Leaguers!  is  credited  to  one  Zardione.  If  Mr. 
Zardione  is  to  be  judged  as  a  composer  of 
hymns  by  this  specimen  of  "hymn  tune,"  the 
palm  for  writing  the  best  brass  band  melody 
in  the  entire  collection  must  be  awarded  to 
him.  It  is  a  pity  that  the  original  accompani- 
ment (as  given  in  the  earlier  editions)  was 
not  retained.  The  attempt  to  refine  the  blare 
and  the  "Um-pah-pah"  of  the  horns  as  indi- 
cated in  the  original  setting  is  futile,  for  the 
melody  cries  out  aloud  for  its  trombone  accom- 
paniment and  must  needs  perish  at  the  forced 
separation.     The   editor  will   have    something 


WHM 


to  answer  for  if  he  should  ever  meet  Mr.  Zardi- 
one, for  a  composer  is  usually  jealous  of  his 
artistic  children  and  cannot  bear  to  see  them 
truncated  or  disjointed,  or  even  forcibly  re- 
fined. A  vulgar  tune  is  vulgar,  no  matter  in 
what  tempo  it  appears,  and  this  tune  savors  of 
the  cheap  burlesque,  notwithstanding  its  new 
dress  and  its  "Andante"  tempo  indication. 

Nos.  37  to  39  (with  the  exception  of  Nos.  31 
and  38)  are  all  specimens  of  that  type  of  senti- 
mental melody  which  is  dear  to  the  hearts  of 
the  Billy  Sunday  congregations.  They  are  not 
hymns,  but  melodies  taken  from  secular 
sources;  they  are  either  piano  pieces  or  mushy 
melodies  found  in  vocal  methods  (Concone  et 
al.).  These  melodies  are  gushy,  oversenti- 
mental  or  inanely  cheap  in  character,  and  are 
:o  be  found  only  in  Catholic  Hymnals  of  this 
type  and  in  the  Moody  and  Sankey  and  Billy 
Sunday  Revival  Hymnals.  (Billy  Sunday's 
masterpiece,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  a 
hymn  concerning  "De  brewer's  big  horses — 
but  dem  big  horses  can't  run  over  me!") 
With  all  our  wealth  of  traditional  melodies  of 
unquestionable  Catholic  origin  we  here  demon- 
strate that  we  are  rapidly  heading  our  congre- 


22 


gations  towards  an  acceptance  of  '  De  Brewery 
Hosses"  type  of  hymn. 

No.  40  is  a  melody  clearly  taken  from  the 
German  sources.  Many  will  recognize  the 
genuine  "Allemand"  type  and  may  be  able  to 
trace  its  original  title.  It  is  here  serving  as  a 
melody  for  the  words  "In  this  Sacrament, 
Sweet  Jesus!" 


In  No.  41  we  again  meet  an  old  melodic 
friend,  "Das  Dreigespann,"  an  old  Russian 
folk-song  dressed  up  in  Catholic  clothes  to  fit 
the  text,  "What  light  is  streaming  from  the 
skies?"  Here  is  the  melody  with  its  adapted 
text  and  the  German  version.  (See  No.  41  in 
appendix.) 


isar^dsx?  npes- vL+cvr  itu^o^ \^<Liu^  ^in^e^^L  icn]  VrtVufr*  Iw-tifmli 


No.  51,  "Thou  For  Whom  I've  Long  Been 
Sighing,"  is  set  to  a  melody  which  sounds  very 
much  like  the  old  Civil  War  songs  of  the  style 
of  "Just  Before  the  Battle,  Mother."  It  is  not 
a  religious  melody,  at  any  rate. 

No.  52  is  a  typical  "Salvation  Army"  tune, 
and  we  can  readily  imagine  a  street  crowd  sing- 
ing it  for  dear  life  with  the  usual  accompani- 
ment of  tambourine  and  cornet. 

No.  56  is  another  tune  of  this  type;  it  has 
all  the  elements  of  popularity,  the  conven- 
tional swing  and  the  cheap  march  rhythm;  all 
it  needs  to  place  it  in  its  proper  category  is 


the  accompaniment  which  exists  in  the  original 
edition,  but  which  was  censored  in  this  edi- 
tion (as  if  the  accompaniment  could  possibly 
change  a  bad  tune  into  good  hymn). 

In  No.  58  we  find  the  compilers  have  gone 
to  English  sources  to  obtain  the  melody  of  a 
fine  old  folk-song  "Flow  Gently,  Sweet  Afton." 
Only  a  little  mental  effort  was  required  to 
adjust  the  words  "O  Purest  of  Creatures"  to 
to  the  music  and  thus  the  Catholic  imprint  was 
given  and  the  art  product  was  complete.  Here 
is  the  original  text  coupled  with  the  interpola- 
ted verses.      (See  No.  58  in  appendix.) 


T  UvT  9***fy,  *****  <H*^    a-ma^th^w*  ^T/^qet^Jte  sC^Ll  a 


The  fact  that  a  great  many  persons  would 
Know  the  original  melody  and  would  retain 
their  first  impression  of  its  connection  with 
"Sweet  Afton"  despite  the  effort  to  connect 
the  melody  with  "0  Purest  of  Creatures"  seem.-; 
to  have  been  overlooked  by  the  editors.  Why 
should  we  offer  Our  Lady  second  choice  or 
second-hand  melodies?  Is  she  not  worthy  of 
something  better  than  a  musical  work  conceived 
originally  as  an  accompaniment  to  verses  writ- 
ten in  honor  of  a  river? 


No.  61  is  one  of  the  best  known  of  our  Cath- 
olic hurdy-gurdy  tunes.  The  indication  "An- 
dante" dotted  quarter  note  50)  is  caviar  to  the 
majority  of  players.  The  rhythm  of  the  piece 
determines  its  tempo  notwithstanding  the 
tempo  indication.  In  this  case  the  composi- 
tion is  of  the  hurdy-gurdy  type  and  will  surely 
be  played  in  hurdy-gurdy  fashion.  This  and 
like  sickly-sentimental  tunes  which  here  follow 
in  steady  procession,  are  to  be  found  only  in 
Catholic  hvmnals  and  in  the  books  put  forth 


23 


by  the  Moody- Sankey  and  Billy  Sunday  type  of 
Evangelists. 

No.  70,  "Raise  Your  Voices  Vales  and  Moun- 
tains" is   another   melody   borrowed   from    our 


ever  popular  "Home,  Sweet  Home."  The 
Chorus,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  appended  ex- 
ample is  a  direct  reproduction  of  the  famous 
home  song  with  but  a  changed  accent.  (See 
example  70.) 


[70)*    &&A^lto"tt)^-a*'*e    ^o&*-  VlhA&a    u-«-£to    a^JL    y*x<ru!™XeU*s]        ftCYWL  ^wJlSlJ  (jitf-**^  ^ 

JfffGi  birn'JUuA&ile 

XaL  -    >k  \-%':  jV  r-  A\  ~  &  ;  I 

— ' »  I     •-' — m — [     l  f\  1  '■ i — f  1  gj^   ■ — ^T — ~ p~ 7 — n — J 

'rru'd    ^oaujiu  dni     jpl 

9W-& -tia^Yft^tiffif  frnr  ^      £*«^W^ /Wtk  W.  j 

No.  72  is  a  weak  imitation  of  one  of  Wal- 
lace's melodies  (from  Maritana  if  memory  does 
not  play  false),  set  to  the  text  "How  Pure, 
How  Frail." 

No.  78,  "Unfold  Ye  Golden  Gates  of  Heaven" 
is  set  to  a  melody  by  one  of  the  editors.  The 
Chorus  of  this  march  (for  it  is  certainly  not 
a  hymn  or  devotional  tune)  sets  the  feet 
a-going  and  one  can  reaily  picture  the  hoys  fol- 
lowing the  brass  band  keeping  time  and  imi- 
tating the  sound  of  the  trumpets. 

The    familiar    barcarolle-like    "Ave     Sanc- 

tissima'    No-  80,  has  been  retained  even  in 
the  line  "The  wave  must  rock  our  sleep  Ora 

Mater,"  etc. 


Fr.  Lambilotte  is  responsible  for  No.  83  and 
has  much  to  answer  for.  Many  of  our  wishy- 
washy  and  mucilaginous  hymn  tunes  are  from 
the  pen  of  this  worthy  priest  who  utilizes  the 
musical  idiom  of  the  "Offenbachian"  period  and 
as  a  result,  we  have  a  decadent  type  of  church 
music  which  has  been  handed  down  to  us  as  a 
reiic  of  the  golden  era  of  French  Opera  Bouffe 

Xo.  85  is  here  given  as  a  hymn  to  Our  Lady 
with  the  title  of  "The  Star  of  the  Ocean  Is 
Risen."  In  its  original  form  the  melody  is 
recognized  as  the  "Lorei"  a  familiar  folk-song 
of  Germany.     (See  example  85.) 


No.  92  gives  us  the  famous  "Help!  Help! 
Help!"  song  quoted  by  Hymnologus.  No  charge 
of  involved  or  modern  harmonic  treatment  in 
the  accompaniment  to  this  melody  can  be 
brought  with  any  degree  of  justice  against  the 
composer,  for  we  have  just  three  chords  in  the 
entire  piece;  tonic,  subdominant  and  dominant. 
In  fact  this  element  of  simplicity  was  one  of 
the  chief  attractions  of  the  original  "St, 
Basil's"  and  we  are  glad  to  note  that  not  too 
great  a  strain  has  been  placed  on  the  mental 
equipment  of  our  organists  in  this  new  edition. 
Some  of  the  piano  accompaniments  and  caden- 


zas and  barber-shop  chords  have  been  changed, 
it  is  true,  but  admirers  of  the  St.  Basil  type  of 
hymns  need  have  no  fear  that  all  the  attractive 
features  of  the  original  have  been  supercen- 
sored  or  eliminated. 

Musicians,  looking  at  these  melodies  taken 
from  such  well  known  secular  sources  would 
likely  gather  that  the  music  of  our  non-litur- 
gical functions  must  indeed  have  fallen  to  a 
low  estate  if  such  abominations  in  the  form  of 
hymns  were  accepted  as  a  typical  Catholic  art 
product. 


24 


However,  let  us  examine  a  few  more  hymns 
in  the  English  and  then  turn  our  attention  to 
the  Latin  section.  Here  is  a  model  dance  tune 
with  variations  posing  as  a  hymn  to  the  Blessed 
Virgin  (No.  115). 

The  chorus  of  this  ribald  tune  (in  mazurka 
rhythm  again)  is  probably  the  best  illustration 
of  the  type  of  hymn  which  may  please  certain 
elements  among  our  Catholic  people;  let  us 
hope  that  a  newer  generation  will  have  been 
trained  to  detect  the  difference  between  a 
dance  tune  and  a  genuinely  devotional  melody. 
Lambilbtte's  famous  "Notre  Dame"  hymn  is 
found  with  all  its  frills  and  rococo  twists  at 
No.  118,  while,  next  door  to  it  we  see  Gott- 
schalk's  favorite  piano  piece  "The  Last  Hope" 
serving  as  a  basis  for  the  hymn  "Mary,  Unto 
Thee  I  Call." 

No.  122  given  as  a  hymn  to  the  Blessed 
Virgin,    is    the    typical    hunting    song    to    the 

words:"The  Sun  Is  Shining  Brightly."  At  123 

we  find  the  same  incorrect  version  of  the  tradi- 

tional  "Stabat  Mater"  melody  which  disfigures 

so  many  hymnals.  No-  130  is  a  hymn  to  St- 
Joseph,  an  old  familiar  tune  newly  accoutred  by 
J.  Brazil.     Italian  opera  choruses  all  end  in  one 


manner,  at  least  in  the  old  Italian  operas  we 
could  always  anticipate  the  ending  of  the  piece 
because  of  the  recurrent  tonic  and  dominant 
phrases.  The  ending  to  this  operatic  St.  Joseph 
hymn  is  worthy  of  its  Italian  progenitors,  but 
it  is  really  amazing  to  think  that  in  the  year  of 
our  Lord,  1919,  musicians  and  publishers  would 
dare  to  issue  such  a  conventional  hack  horse  in 
the  form  of  music  of  this  type,  and  have  the 
courage  to  label  it  church  music.  No.  147  is  an 
old  French  "Bergerette"  originally  a  song  by 
Pergolese  allied  to  a  love  text.  In  this  book  we 
find  it  masquerading  under  the  title  of  a  hymn 
to  Our  Lady.  "Like  the  Dawning  of  the  Morn- 
ing." It  would  be  instructive  to  say  the  least, 
to  put  the  original  text  and  Father  Faber's  in 
parrallel  columns.  No.  153  has  for  a  refrain, 
an  exact  reproduction  of  the  school  game 
melody,  "London  Bridge  Is  Falling  Down." 

No.  165  gives  us  another  text  to  the  Pergo- 
lese melody  originally  conceived  as  a  love  song 
(Bergerette).  No.  173,  "Alleluia!  Allelui!"  is 
nothing  more  than  the  celebrated  "Whem  the 
Swallows  Homeward  Fly"  by  Franz  Abt.  Here 
we  can  see  both  the  original  and  the  interpola- 
ted text.     (See  No.  173  in  the  appendix.) 


~  OMJUukj  &*xu  i*&t  *J$j^7?Z5er; 


VfUt  lb.  iwd.-iomLmmri.  $%,  mrrfL  t^  u>  *af-  W  £u_ 


No.  177,  "Haec  Dies" —  a  discarded  setting 
by  Bordese.  Since  the  Motu  Propria  was  issued 
this  type  of  composition  has  been  almost  elimi- 
nated. Was  the  insertion  of  this  number  in- 
tended as  an  appeal  to  those  who  may  not  have 
read  the  dictum  of  Pope  Pius  X  on  the  subject 
of  modern  church  music? 

No.  178  appears  with  the  incorrect  raised 
leading  tone,  which  destroys  the  modal  char- 
acter of  the  composition  entirely.  In  the  re- 
maining English  hymns  there  are  many  equally 
bad  examples  as  those  quoted.  We  shall  have 
to  devote  a  little  space  to   the  Latin  Section, 


however  and  will  proceed  to  an  examination  of 
the  Chant.  The  use  of  quarter  notes  may  be 
j  :  n  irsble,  but  the  adoption  of  such  a  nota- 
tion, in  the  opinion  of  the  reviewer,  destroys  the 
value  of  a  certain  contrast  which  is  achieved 
by  the  use  of  eighth  and  quarter  notes.  The 
mora  vocis,  for  instance,  can  best  be  illustrated 
in  modern  notation  by  the  use  of  quarter  note 
ending  in  accordance  with  the  system  advocated 
by  the  Solesmes  monks  themselves. 

Apart  from  this  consideration  however,  we 
find  on  examining  No.  254  closely  that  the  text 
has  been  incorrectly  apportioned  to  the  notes 


25 


(Pange  Lingua)  at  the  words  mysterium- - 
ventris  and  effudit,  while  the  "Amen"  melody 
does  not  accord  with  the  Vatican  edition.  Does 
not  Rome  require  that  any  reproduction  of  the 
chanft  should  conform  to  the  typical  Vatican 
edition? 

No.  256  is  a  Gregorian  Chant  (Parce 
Domine),  in  measured  rhythm  and  in  modern 
form — another  distortion — and  such  a  useless 
procedure. 

No.  257  gives  a  new  syllabization  for  the 
word  Sa-cra-tis-si-mum;  on  one  note  at  the 
end  of  first  line  the  two  syllables  si-mum  are 
run  together  in  quite  a  comical  fashion. 

Hybrid  Psalm  Tones  are  utilized  at  Nos. 
259  and  260  for  the  Miserere  and  Benedictus 
respectively.  Why  not  give  the  correct  psalm 
tones  according  to  the  Antiphonale  Romanum? 

At.  No.  262  we  note  a  garbled  version  of  the 
great  "Veni  Creator"  melody.  What  justifi- 
cation can  there  be  at  this  time,  so  many  years 
after  the  advent  of  a  typical  Vatican  edition  of 
Chant,  to  use  such  mutilated  versions  of  the 
Chants  ?  Probably  the  most  ludicrous  example 
of  a  distorted  musical  setting  is  the  amalga- 
mation of  text  and  music  at  No.  265.  In  Chant 
the  principles  advocated  by  the  Solesmes  Monks 
with  regard  to  the  ictus  and  its  relation  to  the 
tonic  accent  work  out  beautifully.  In  modern 
music,  the  attempt  to  put  the  same  principles 
into   operation   results   disastrously   as   can  be 


noted  by  this  particular  "Ave  Maria  Stella." 
Imagine  children  yelling  out  on  unaccented 
syllables  in  this  fashion  according  to  the 
rhythm  of  the  melody,  in  6-8  time.  a-VE,  ma- 
RlS,  stel-La-de-I  ma-TER  al-MA  at-QuE  sem- 
PER  vir-G(3,  fe-Ll'X  coe-LI  por-TA. 

Every  stanza  sung  according  to  the  music 
here  given  will  give  the  above  one-legged 
effect. 

At.  No.  267  appears  a  mutilated  Gregorian 
melody   (Iste  Confessor) — also  at  258. 

In  the  Litany  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  (No. 
270)  we  note  the  omission  of  the  REGENA 
PACIS,  ORA  PRO  NOBIS,  ordered  to  be  in- 
serted by  His  Holiness  some  years  ago.  The 
Psalm,  "Deus  in  Adjutorium,"  has  an  incorrect 
Psalm  tone  assigned  to  it.     (P.  275.) 

Pursuing  our  examination  further  we  note 
on  page  278  a  setting  of  an  O  Salutaris  to  the 
melody  sung  generally  in  non-Catholic  churches 
to  the  words  of  "Old  Hundred,"  but  the  climax 
of  the  entire  work  is  reached  at  No.  274 
(Tantum  Ergo.) 

We  are  here  asked  to  subscribe  through  the 
singing  of  the  German  song  (notwithstanding 
its  Austrian  origin),  to  the  sentiments  "Ger- 
many!  Germany!  above  all!!"  in  the  tune 
allotted  to  the  "Tantum  Ergo"  on  page  280. 
Here  is  the  original  setting  by  Haydn  and  the 
distorted  version  adopted  for  the  Latin  text. 
(See  Appendix  No.  274.) 


ilUjj].UJ  JJJJJ "JJcJ     1 


"Tcv^MHv  W^o  ScLCACL.'nwJM**       U^  VOULt,  vrwv         QjUl^  y^XA^  V 


durc-u-//y*^i3L    W&^rt>  £*- 


v^U^ifd^ 


^m^^Fm 


?e£& 


be^^^j^^^u'oir^  alLJ, 


26 


If  we  abject  very  seriously  to  confusing 
our  religious  feelings  with  the  national  aspi- 
rations of  militaristic  empires,  we  have  the 
option  of  rendering  homage  to  another  depart- 
ed ruler,  the  Czar  of  a  Russia  that  is  no  more. 
The  melody  allotted  to  the  text  of  the  second 


Tantum  Ergo  brings  vividly  to  mind  the  era 
of  anarchy  and  terror  in  the  country  whose 
national  song  we  here  adopt  as  a  vehicle  of 
praise  to  our  Lord  in  the  Most  Holy  Sacra- 
ment of  the  Altar?  What  an  association! 
(See  Appendix  No.  274b.) 


Verily,  anything  will  do  for  use  in  the 
Catholic  Church  according  to  tiie  evidence  here 
brought  to  view.  Publishers  are  proceeding 
on  the  theory  that  no  one  knows  the  difference 
and  no  one  cares!!  And  they  may  be  justified 
in  this  assumption  judging  from  the  support 
they  have  received  at  the  hands  of  those  in 
authority. 

Hybrid  Psalm  Tones  nil  the  remainder  of 
the  book  and  in  the  Requiem  Mass  (Gregorian) 
there  occur  any  number  of  errors  in  the  co- 
ordination of  text  to  music.  A  Dumont  Mass 
is  included  while  Mr.  Brazil  contributes  a  Mass 
in  four  parts  written  in  the  old  time  conven- 
tional form.  "Et  unam  Sanctum"  is  given  in- 
stead of  'Sanctam'  in  the  'Credo'  whilein  the 
Agnus  Dei  (the  very  last  page  of  the  book) 
there  are  two  glaring  errors  in  the  text.  This 
is  the  text  according  to  the  Brazil  version. 

Agnus  Dei,  qui  tollis  peccata  mundi,  (mis 
erere  nobis  omitted.) 

Agnus  Dei,  qui  tollis  peccata  mundi,  mis- 
erere nobis. 

Agnus  Dei,  qui  tollis  peccata  mundi,  mis- 
erere! !  miserere  nobis. 

Dona  nobis  pacem  dona  nobis  pacem,  dona 
nobis  pacem,  pacem. 

The  Missal  and  the  Graduale  Romanum 
give  this  authentic  reading: 


Agnus  Dei, 
miserere   nobis. 

Agnus  Dei. 
miserere   nobis. 

Agnus     Dei, 


qui   tollis    peccata    mundi; 
qui     tollis     peccata     mundi; 


qui     tollis     peccata     mundi; 
dona   nobis   pacem. 

Rome  announced  some  years  ago,  that  all 
publications  giving  versions  of  Gregorian 
Chant  should  agree  strictly  with  the  original 
Vatican  Edition.  We  find  in  this  book  nothing 
but  a  mass  of  distortions  and  perversions  of 
the  Chant.  The  impression  has  been  created 
by  the  publishers  that  the  new  edition  was 
strictly  in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  the 
Holy  See  (although  no  specific  mention  is 
made  of  the  fact  in  the  preface).  The  distor- 
tions of  both  text  and  music  occur  in  the  Pange 
Lingua  (254),  the  Veni  Creator  (262),  the 
I  itany  of  the  Saints  (272)  (with  its  incorrect 
"Agnus  Dei")  and  in  the  Psalm  tone,  Deus  in 
adjutorium.  The  Vespers  of  the  Sunday  are 
given  and  a  subtitle  informs  us  that  the  setting 
is  taken  from  the  "Antiphonarium  Romanum." 
The  setting  is  not  in  accordance  with  the  Anti- 
phonarium issued  by  the  Vatican  press  which 
we  are  supposed  to  follow.  The  Chant  "Ave 
Regina"  (299)  is  also  badly  garbled.  The  set- 
ting of  the  Regina  Coeli,  by  Labet  (No.  300), 
is  the  best  example  of  Sacred  dance  music  that 
could  possibly  be  imagined.     This  composition 


'(if  we  can  i  so  dignify  it)  reflects  the  true 
'  character  of  the  hymnal  as  a  whole,  and  we 
can  base  our  impression  of  the  musical  value 
of  the  entire  work  upon  this  typical  piece  de 
resistance  with  its  tripping  measures  and 
musical   comedy   atmosphere. 

The  publishers  have  emphasized  the  fact 
that  certain  objectionable  features  found  in 
the  earlier  editions  have  been  omitted  in  this 
new  edition.  Does  the  elimination  of  the 
pianistic  accompaniments,  the  omission  of  the 
cadenzas  and  the  florid  roulades  warrant  the 
retention  of  the  prime  offenders — the  melo- 
dies? These  melodies  exhale  the  breath  of  a 
former  period — the  decadent  period  of  church 
music.  It  was  exactly  this  type  of  music  that 
the  late  Pope  Pius  of  happy  memory,  referred 
to,  when  he  asked  or  rather  commanded  that 
the  music  of  the  church  conform  to  the  laws 
of  true  art.  It  is  this  kind  of  music  that 
offends  our  sense  of  the  fitness  of  things. 
"Sacred  music" — quotes  a  well-known  author- 
ity,— "should  conform  to  the  law  of   prayer." 

"The  law  of  prayer  must  be  the  law  of 
song,  both  that  our  prayer  may  be  good  art 
and  our  art  good  prayer." 

To  return  to  our  first  question  "In  what 
manner  does  this  book  differ  from  the  original 
edition?"  The  answer  can  only  be  that  the 
"revised"  St.  Basil's  Hymnal  is  still  the  same 
St.  Basil's  notwithstanding  the  new  investi- 
ture and  excellent  minting,  and  the  strictures 
pronounced  upon  it  by  "Hymnologus" — apply 
just  as  well  to  the  new  edition  as  they  did  to 
the  original  work.  M.   COLAS. 


COMMUNICATIONS  + 

St.   Basil's   Hymnal. 

A   communication   from  the   compilers   and 
the  reply  of  the  reviewer. 
To  the  Editor  of  the  Catholic  Choir master : 
Dear  Sir: 

A  contribution  to  your  April  number  on 
the  revised  St.  Basil's  Hymnal  resembled  an 
attack  rather  than  a  review  or  criticism. 


27 


The  reviewer,  M.  Colas,  we  have  no  doubt, 
is  actuated  by  the  very  best  motives  nor  do  we 
contend  that  the  book  in  question  is  free 
all  the  defects  to  which  he  draws  attention. 
But  in  his  commendable  zeal  for  the  reform  of 
church  music,  he  seems  to  suggest  a  method 
of  procedure  which  certainly  will  never  bring 
that  reform  about.  The  reviewer  evidently 
cannot  understand  that  the  editors  of  the  St. 
Basil  Hymnal  share  his  zeal  and  are  equally 
intent  upon  bringing  the  music  used  in 
churches  everywhere  up  to  the  desired  stand- 
ard. Such  a  result,  they  claim,  must  be 
reached  by  a  method  altogether  different  from 
that  of  immediately  expurgating  every  publi- 
cation of  anything  and  everything  which  does 
not  square  with  the  canons  of  strictest 
orthodoxy. 

There  is  a  public  to  be  considered,  and  there 
are  the  multifarious  conditions  or  rather  dis- 
advantages, under  which  large  proportions  of 
that  public  are  constituted. 

Already  publishers  in  high  repute  and  with 
every  facility  for  reaching  musical  world  have 
brought  out  hymnals  fully  satisfying  the 
strictest  requirements,  only  to  discover  that 
there  were  no  means  available  of  getting  such 
hymns  into  common  use.  Whatever  good  is 
done  the  cause  of  promoting  sacred  music  by 
circulating  books  some  of  whose  numbers  fall 
below  the  standards  of  purity,  none  whatever 
is  accomplished  by  hymn  books  condemned  to 
lie  and  grow  musty  on  the  shelves  of  a  book 
stcre  or  in  a  publisher's  storeroom.  Whether 
the  united  force  of  municipal,  state  and  federal 
administrations  will  ever  succeed  in  reform- 
ing the  population  by  compelling  compliance 
to  absolute  prohibition  of  liquor,  certainly  we 
have  no  power  to  compel  Catholics  in  every 
part  of  the  land  to  immediately  abandon  the 
use  of  traditional  hymn  melodies.  What  may 
be  found  more  or  less  feasible  in  a  Cathedral 
choir  or  in  a  school  situated  in  somt  large 
center,  becomes  a  totally  different  problem 
in  the  thousands  of  small  and  scattered  con- 


+  Chatholic  Choirmaster  -  October   -   1919. 


28 


gregations,    whose   interests   we   must,    never- 
theless, not  cease  to  consider. 

Nowhere  else  in  the  Catholic  world  did  the 
Motu  Proprio  of  Pius  X  find  a  large  commu- 
nity better  prepared  for  its  acceptance  than 
in  the  province  of  Quebec.  No  other  clergy, 
as  a  whole,  are  more  devoted  to  the  study  of 
church  music;  nowhere  else  are  such  large 
proportions  of  the  faithful  of  every  class 
trained  to  the  use  of  plain  chant  from  early 
youth.  Nevertheless,  as  M.  Colas  must  real- 
ize, their  hymnals  for  many  years  to  come 
are  likely  to  contain  music  of  the  character 
he  finds  so  reprehensible.  Tlve  airs  their 
grandparents,  and  great-grandparents  for 
generations  have  loved  and  sung  cannot  eas- 
ily be  set  aside. 

Having  devoted  a  great  deal  of  space  to 
exposing  the  defects  of  the  original  St.  Basil's 
Hymnal — a  book  which  has  been  discarded 
and  is  no  longer  in  print — and  having  em- 
phasized rather  vigorously  the  oversight 
which  allowed  "name"  to  be  substituted  for 
"reign"  and  such  typographical  errors  as 
"tuum"  for  "Tuam,"  etc.,  etc.  (defects  we  can 
certainly  promise  to  remedy),  the  prevailing 
charge  levelled  by  M.  Colas  against  the  re- 
vised edition  is  because  of  the  resemblance 
certain  melodies  bear  to  secular  airs.  In  case 
of  some  of  these  we  must  confess  having  never 
detected  the  resemblance,  nor  having  heard  of 
any  one  who  did;  in  the  case  of  others  we 
frankly  acknowledge  the  fact.  What  M.  Colas 
failed  to  note,  however,  is  that  a  very  large 
proportion  of  the  members  in  the  original 
work,  which  were  objectionable  on  this  ground 
have  not  appeared  in  the  Revised  edition. 
Critics  will  also  understand,  we  trust,  that  we 
agreed  to  the  retention  of  a  certain  number 
of  such  melodies  for  a  time,  not  because  they 
resemble  secular  airs,  but  becuase  they  are 
traditional  melodies. 

Now  we  wish  to  assure  the  Society  of  St. 
Gregory  that  we  have  given  the  practical 
side  of  this  question  a  very  serious  study. 
We    have    a    plan    which    has    been    carefully 


thought  out  and  it  aims  a  hymnal  which  in 
every  way  will  come  up  to  their  standard,  but 
also  at  gradually  bringing  our  patrons  to  the 
use  of  music  of  that  character  exclusively. 
This,  we  realize,  will  require  some  time.  We 
cannot  hope  to  accomplish  in  one  issue  what 
others  with  greater  opportunities  have  tried 
and  failed  in.  But  anything  skort  of  this 
would  be  no  service  worth  while  to  the  cause 
we  are  trying  to  serve.  Were  our  task  merely 
that  of  issuing  a  hymnal  in  full  accord  with 
the  spirit  of  the  Motu  Proprio  it  could  easily 
have  been  finished  long  ago.  We  do  feel  as- 
sured of  accomplishing  the  greater  task 
through  successive  reprints  and  ask  considera- 
tion for  and  observation  of  our  efforts. 

Meanwhile  we  shall  always  be  grateful  to 
M.  Colas  and  others  equally  competent  for  sug- 
gestions that  may  be  of  assistance. 
Respectfully   yours, 
THE  EDITORS  OF  THE  REVISED 
ST.  BASIL'S  HYMNAL. 

Toronto,  Can.,  Oct.,  1919. 


THE  REVIEWER'S  REPLY 

To    the    Editor    of   the    Catholic    Choirmaster, 

Dear  Sir: — 

I  have  carefully  perused  the  reply  of  the 
editors  of  the  revised  edition  of  St.  Basil's 
Hymnal  to  the  comment  made  by  your  re- 
viewer in  the  April  issue  of  the  Catholic 
Choirmaster.  First  of  all,  permit  me  to  assure 
the  compilers  of  the  hymnal  that  the  matters 
of  good  faith  or  good  intentions  were  not 
called  into  question,  for  the  writer  criticised 
the  volume  entirely  upon  its  merits  and  upon 
the  character  of  its  contents.  The  compilers 
may  have  been  actuated  by  the  very  highest 
motives  in  issuing  a  book  for  Catholic  Church 
use  which  contains  secular  and  operatic  mel- 
odies and  a  transcription  of  the  Gregorian 
Chant  which  is  contrary  to  the  edition  issued 
by  the  Vatican.  Motives  do  not  enter  into  the 
question,  but  results  do.     The  principal  results 


29 


of  the  use  of  such  a  hymnal  as  has  been  put 
forth  by  the  Basilian  Fathers  are  these:  Our 
children  will  obtain  a  perverted  notion  of  de- 
votional music  and  they  will  be  asked  to  sing 
to  devotional  texts  such  melodies  as  '"Lucia 
di  Lammermoor,"  '"Home  Sweet  Home,"  "The 
Vacant  Chair,"  the  Russian  folk-song,  "Das 
Dreigespannl,"  "Das  Alpenhorn" — a  senti- 
mental ballad  of  by-gone  days;  brass  band 
melodies  and  the  style  of  melody  dear  to  the 
heart  of  "Billy  Sunday,"  of  which  the  "Brew- 
er's Big  Horses"  is  a  model  type.  Other  sec- 
ular melodies  we  are  asked  to  perpetuate 
through  the  use  of  this  hymnal  are  melodies 
(utterly  undevotional)  such  as  "Flow  Gently, 
Sweet  Afton,"  and  Father  Lambilotte's  opera- 
bouffe  melody  (as  found  at  No.  83),  a  dance 
tune  (as  at  No.  115),  and  another  foot-tickling 
melody  as  given  at  No.  118. 


Surely  the  personal  element  has  no  reason 
for  entering  into  this  question  of  criticism 
when  we  are  confronted  with  such  examples 
of  decadent  and  vulgar  music  as  found  at 
Nos.  122,  123,  147,  153,  165  (a  French  "Berger- 
ette"),  173,  177,  and  numerous  other  ex- 
amples of  the  same  type.  The  compilers  of 
the  new  edition  of  St.  Basil's  have  chosen  to 
lay  stress  on  the  fact  that  some  (very  few) 
hymns  which  were  originally  ribald  Italian 
street  songs  and  which  contaminated  the  taste 
of  our  Catholics  for  generations  because  they 
were  incorporated  in  the  older  editions  of  St. 
Basil's  Hymnal  under  the  guise  of  "sacred 
s?ngs"  have  been  eliminated  from  the  new 
edition.  The  old  edition  of  St.  Basil's  Hymnal 
was  a  standing  reflection  on  the  ordinary  in- 
telligence of  our  Catholic  people.  The  new 
edition  is  a  replica  of  the  old  in  that  it  con- 
tains all  the  old  favorites  (made  traditional 
through  the  use  of  St.  Basil's  Hymnal  and 
others  of  a  like  type),  and  the  only  change 
perceptible  is  in  the  accompaniments.  The 
Gregorian  Chant  section  is  a  parody  of  the 
legitimate  melodies  as  given  in  the  Vatican 
Edition  and  in  this  connection  the  statement 


made  by  a  learned  Doctor  of  the  Church  who 
wr?/te  in  protest  to  the  distributors,  may  be 
cf  interest  to  those  who  view  this  question 
from  its  educational  aspect  and  who  can  gauge 
the  effect  of  the  continued  use  of  secular 
banal  hymn  tunes  upon  the  taste  of  the  chil- 
dren of  the  present  and  succeeding  generations. 
The  writer  of  the  appended  letter  protests 
against  the  distribution  of  a  book  containing 
matter  not  in  conformity  with  the  official  books 
issued  by  the  Vatican  and  in  support  of  his 
argument  quotes  from  the  "Motu  Proprio"  as 
follows: 

"Even  a  small  degree  of  familiarity  with 
the  liturgical  hymns  of  the  Church  will  show 
how  averse  the  Church  is  to  all  semblance  of 
what,  for  want  of  a  better  word,  I  shall  call 
"jingle."  Note  how  she  strives  to  obviate 
this  "jingle"  by  distributing  groups  of  notes 
here  and  there  even  in  the  most  simple,  the 
most  syllabic  hymn  chants.  Now  any 
musician  will  acknowledge  that  by  its  very 
nature  rhythm  in  6-8  time  most  readily  sinks 
to  the  level  of  the  aforesaid  "jingle."  With 
this  in  mind  kindly  glance  rapidly  over  the 
pages  of  St.  Basil's!  "No — 'sacred  music,'  says 
the  Motu  Proprio,  'must  be  holy  ....  it  must 
be  true  art'  " 

"I  am  asked  to  accept  the  statement  made 
by  the  publishers  that  the  musical  editor 
of  St.  Basil's  is  a  'student  of  Plain  Chant, 
which  he  makes  a  specialty.'  I  take  it  for 
granted  therefore  that  he  is  likewise  familiar 
with  the  laws  of  the  Church  regulating  the 
L:turgical  Chant,  at  least  in  as  far  as  this 
is  necessary  for  editing  the  Sunday  Vespers 
and  the  Requiem  Mass,  both  of  which  are  in- 
corporated in  St.  Basil's.  In  reply  to  this, 
may  I  submit  you  the  following? 

"St.  Basil's  (revised)  has  an  'Imprimatur' 
dated  1918,  which  is  presumably  also  approxi- 
mately the  date  of  publication.  Now  the  first 
Sunday  Vespers  which  is  given  our  children 
to  learn  is  one  that  has  been  officially  abro- 
gated since  January  1,  1913.  (The  'Preface' 
tells  the  public  that  these  Vespers  are  'accord- 


30 


ing  to  the  Antiphonarium,'  presumably,  of 
course,  the  one  in  actual  Catholic  use.)  In 
these  same  Vespers  (of  1918)  there  are  Gre- 
gorian Melodies  that  have  been  officially  super- 
seded by  the  appearance  of  the  Vatican  Anti- 
phonale  of  1912."  "As  for  the  'Vespers  ac- 
cording to  St.  Basil's  Hymnal,'  they  are  a 
direct  violation  of  the  Motu  Proprio,  for  there 
are  no  antiphons  whereas  the  Motu  Proprio 
says  explicitly:  'It  is  not  lawful  to  confuse 
this  order  (the  order  given  in  the  liturgical 
books)  or  to  change  the  prescribed  texts  for 
others  selected  at  will  or  to  omit  them.'  Fur- 
thermore, the  Gregorian  melodies  of  this  Ves- 
pers came  under  a  prohibition  that  dates  back 
as  far  as  1904. 

"  'The  Mass  for  the  dead,'  says  the 
Preface,  'is  taken  from  the  Vatican  edition 
of  the  Graduale  and  is  set  out  in  its  complete 
form.'  "I  begin  with  the  first  syllable.  Ac- 
cording to  the  Vat.  Edit.,  there  must  be  two 
*fV  (or  the  equivalent)  over  this  syllable.  At 
the  syllable  'tor'  of  the  second  word  the 
'pressus'  has  been  neglected.  At  the  word 
'Domine*  the  notes  have  been  re-distributed 
over  the  syllables — an  express  violation  of  the 
rules  laid  down  for  reproducing  the  official 
melodies  of  the  Church.  The  same  thing  is 
done  at  the  word  'perpetua,'  etc.,  etc.,  etc." 
"All  through  the  Mass,  except  Truct  and 
Offert.,  there  is  a  lack  of  anything  that  might 
show  how  long  Gregorian  groups  are  to  be 
subdivided — a  matter  of  such  extreme  im- 
portance to  a  decent  singing  of  the  Chant. 
Where  is  the  Gradual  of  this  complete  Mass? 
In  what  part  of  the  Vatican  Graduale  is  the 
setting  of  the  Dominus  Vobiscum  (as  given 
on  p.  317)  to  be  found? 

"I  refrain  from  more  fault-finding.  Let 
someone  else  continue  the  task!" 

"In  conclusion  I  am  asked  to  admit  that 
St.  Basil's  'is  at  least  the  most  popular 
(hymnal)  on  the  market.'  On  the  other  hand, 
I  beg  to  ask  whether  in  the  light  of  the  facts 
above  enumerated,  it  is  right  for  a  Catholic 
Priest  to  adopt  in  this  matter  the  popular 
phrase,  'Everybody's  doing  it,'  as  his  guiding 


principle?  An  ordinary  good  Catholic  lay- 
man would  resent  the  imputation  that  he  had 
followed  that  course  of  action  in  a  matter  of 
far  less  importance  than  in  Sacred  Music  des- 
tined for  the  House  of  God." 


The  reviewer,  in  closing,  begs  to  refer  to 
the  statement  made  by  the  compilers  to  the 
effect  that  the  inclusion  of  certain  objection- 
able hymns  was  due  to  the  fact  that  they  were 
"traditional"  German,  Austrian  and  Russian 
National  songs  (which  we  find  in  the  Latin 
section  under  the  text  "Tantum  Ergo")  are  in- 
cluded under  this  heading  it  is  presumed.  Be- 
cause these  melodies  were  formerly  traditional 
national  anthems  of  Germany,  Austria  and 
Russia,  and  may  have  been  sung  by  our  grand- 
fathers and  great-grandparents,  we  must  per- 
petuate the  tradition  and  allow  our  children  to 
confuse  such  sentiments  as  "Germany  Over 
All"!  or  "God  Save  Our  Noble  Czar"!  or  the 
text  of  the  former  National  Austrian  Hymn 
with  the  sacred  text  of  "Tantum  Ergo  Sacra- 
mentum,"  to  which  these  melodies  are  allied 
in  this  newly  revised  edition  of  St.  Basil's 
Hymnal. 

However,  there  is  a  greater  question  at 
issue  in  this  matter  and  it  resolves  itself  into 
this: 

"Can  we  honestly  expect  to  achieve  results 
in  the  movement  for  the  reform  of  church 
music  in  this  or  any  other  country  if  the  chil- 
dren of  the  present  and  succeeding  generations 
are  to  be  fed  on  a  hybrid  type  of  'opera-secu- 
lar and  street-song  melody?'" 

It  is  now  generally  admitted  by  all  who 
have  had  to  do  with  the  promotion  of  the 
cause  in  this  country  that  the  chief  obstacle 
to  the  introduction  of  the  reform  has  been  the 
attitude  of  those  who  formed  a  conception  of 
church  music  in  general  from  the  standard 
given  in  St.  Basil's  and  like  hymnals.  There 
is  absolutely  no  hope  of  ever  introducing  the 
reform  gradually  (as  stated  by  the  editors  of 
St.  Basil's)  through  the  medium  of  such  tunes 
as  given  in  this  and  other  hymnals  of  similar 
character. 


31 


No  conscientious  educator  who  has  the  in- 
terests of  his  .charges  at  heart  will  allow  a 
text  book  to  be  put  into  the  hands  of  the  chil- 
dren which  would  serve  to  inculcate  certain 
obviously  wrong  principles  and  false  precepts. 
But  why  do  educators  permit  the  use  of  musi- 
cal text  books  in  the  form  of  hymnals  which 
certainly  serve  to  develop  a  false  notion  of 
musical  art? 

Hybrid  melodies  which  were  originally  con- 
ceived as  vehicles  for  secular  texts,  love  songs 
and  ballads  are  surely  "false"  in  an  artistic 
sense  when  adopted  as  tunes  for  sacred  texts 
(viz.  Flow  Gently,  Sweet  Afton!  grafted  to 
"0  Purest  of  Creatures,"  etc.,  etc.).  We  per- 
mit children  to  sing  these  melodies  to  their 
adapted  texts  in  their  school  days  and  it  often 
occurs  that  in  later  years  the  adult  learns  that 
the  original  melodies  were  allied  to  texts 
totally  at  variance  with  the  spirit  of  the  de- 
votional text.  But  what  a  confusion  of  ideas 
has  resulted!  and  is  it  any  wonder  that  we  are 
continually  hearing  the  lament  that  in  certain 
localities  nothing  can  be  done  toward  introduc- 
ing genuine  church  music  or  liturgical  music 


in  the  school  or  church  because  'They  use 
such  and  such  a  hymnal  and  think  that  the 
new  devotional  music  is  too  funereal  or  chant- 
like"! 

This  antagonism  to  the  principles  enunci- 
ated by  Pope  Pius  X  in  his  Motu  Proprio  can 
be  directly  traced  to  the  use  of  unworthy 
hymnals  (and  there  are  many  different  types 
still  in  use  throughout  the  country).  One  mem- 
ber of  a  community  in  the  middle  west  wrote 
to  a  publisher  recently  inquiring  whether  he 
could  send  them  a  "Mass"  that  was  live.'y  and 
had  a  good  deal  of  rhythm;  they  were  prepar- 
ing for  a  celebration  and  wanted  to  do  some- 
thing elaborate! 

The  reviewer  regrets  having  taken  up  so 
much  of  your  space,  but  he  feels  that  the  mat- 
ter is  not  only  a  question  of  "Hymnals,"  but 
is  of  the  opinion  that  the  entire  solution  of 
the  church  music  reform  movement,  according 
to  the  wishes  of  Pius  X  and  Pope  Benedict  XV 
lies  in  the  adoption  of  worthy  hymnals  in  our 
schools  and  churches. 

Yours  very  truly, 
Oct.,  1919.  M.  COLAS. 


SPECIMENS  OF  SECULAR  MELODIES  FOUND  IN  CATHOLIC  HYMNALS 


: — «— . — /*  V  -. — = — _ 1 ni — sua. . &1 >. ^  ^ 


•DrinK  To  "ig  <rn  ~  fy  tnTf&ftuntgffia^  } 


ft  MimBMl^m 


ifiatf 


^^ 


ffj  J  fl fir  ttr  ■ 


wm 


jk&M 


» 


■ 


m^    CKffiu^^ 


SPECIMENS  OF  SECUL  VR  MELODIES  FOUND  IN  CATHOLIC  HYMNAL! 


Voice. 


Andantino. 


Nina. 

Canzonetta 


G.B.P 

(1710-17:10. 


Ttel    gior  -  ni       son      che        Ni   -    na, 
For-  three  long    days     my  Ni    -    na, 


che 
my 


Ni    -   na, 

Ni    -   na, 


che 
mv 


in     let  -   to       se       ne 

up-  on'     her     bed      has  lain,. 


in_     let  -  to se  ne 

up    -    Oil       her bed  has. 


Pif  -  fa  -  ri,     tim  -  pa  -  ni,      com  -  ba  -  li,         sve  -  glia 
Loud-er   and    loud  -  er,  ye       play-ers  all!  A  -  wak 


te  mia  Ni  -   net  "  ta' 
en  my  Ni  -    ,iet   "  ta> 


sve  - 
a  - 


wak         -       en  my    Ni  -  net  -  ta,  that         she      may     sleep    no 


ac 

that 


cio  non _  dor  -  ma  piu,      Sve-glia-te_mia_  Ni  -  net     -     ta,      sve  glia  -te_mia__   Ni   -    net      -  ,    ^ 
she  may-sleep    uo  more,     A-\vak- en_  my_  Ni   -net     -     ta,       a-wak-en_my — -  Ni    -   ne        -  , 
_         a  piacere 


cio_   non dor-  ma piu.  ac     -     cio  non       dor   - 

stiel  may sleep  no more  that         she  may      sleep 


ma         piu. 

no         more. 


fA   CI 


*aL\  a  catholic  singing-book. 

nmntfip»ii  ii  i    i  ii  ■■■  ■ 


No.  46. 


AVE    VERUM. 


^^gTt^iYiogL  VYUloi^  *  e/N\y\A^ 


Pergolese. 


:-4— - ?V 


l—j    |— ]-  |    }-    ^— ^-] — i    j — > — m    i  i——  h  i — N^^g 


*         A  -ve     ve  -  rum  Cor-  pus,      na  -  turn  De  Ma  -  ri  -  a  Vir 


gi  -  ne,  Ve-  re 


I Hi — c- 


3=t=t 


*        *        * *- 


:&=3 


eF©3S 


-^—^-^9—^^—n-J- 


- --3 1 1 ^r-y 


f       pas  -  sum      im    -  mo      -      la    -   turn      In        cru    -    ce       pro       ho  -  mi  -  ne. 


^^p^S^^^^^^fflg 


F=* 


t=l 


Je  -    su,       Je   -   sn  dul  -  cis,  O        Je  -    su,       Je    -    su         pi    -  e, 


i3^3 


-*    »     » 


Je-su,   fi  -li-i.  Ma-  ri    ■■    a,        Tu      no  -  bis    mi    -  se  -  re      -     re.  A- men. 


